Mamba out of place
by The Jagdpanther
Summary: A Black Mamba from our world who has been through many trials and seen many things thinks that he's prepared for anything. However after being transported to the Kung Fu Panda Universe he is proven wrong. Confused and in a strange world he must learn how to survive in this new world until he can get back home. Rated K for now. Summary will be fixed soon.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda or any of it's characters. I only own my OC.**

 **This is my first Kung Fu Panda story so I know it won't be perfect if you spot any spelling or grammar mistakes feel free to let me know.**

The forest was calm as birds flew through the trees chirping and squawking to each other, bugs climbed trees while others flew or walked through the grass. The trees blocked out most of the sunlight only allowing smalls amounts breaking through the wall of leaves. At one spot in this part of the forest the sun's rays were plentiful enough that they looked like a stairwell to the sky. The leaves of one of the bushes in this spot rustled as a mouse made its way out of them and into the light of the sun. It sniffed around before scratching behind its ears with its front paws it looked around and was just about to be on its way again when it heard a whoosh of air from behind. Then suddenly it felt pain in the back of its neck as a pair of fangs bit into it injecting fatal venom into its body. The mouse thought the predator would leave it alone while the venom kicked in just like all the other venomess creatures of the forest, but this one was different instead of backing off the predator began to coil itself around the mouse before squeezing. The mouse quickly felt its breath start to leave it as the venom kicked in and the coils squeezed again forcing the air out of its lungs. Just before it felt the cold embrace of death its pupil glanced down to see the almost white pale coils of its killer.

Once his meal had finally stopped moving the Black Mamba quickly unhinged his jaw before slowly consuming his meal whole. Once he was finished he did a quick sweep to ensure there were no predators before quickly making his way back into the brush. Sometime later he was lounging around in a tree watching as humans walked along the trail below.

Their mere presence put him in a foul mood as he silently hissed in anger. These two legged creatures had caused him nothing, but trouble they had taken him from his home land brought him here to this forest infested land that he had learned was called India. They had also taken everything from him leaving him to live his life alone with no friends or family. Why were these creatures even allowed to live? All they do is destroy and tamper with nature. One has to wonder why the creator made them? He watched them leave before silently slithering down the tree before making his way to his destination.

He soon came to an area of the forest that was devoid of most trees and instead has many large white stone structures. He found them interesting as it seemed they were very old and they seemed to have many frozen animals especially tigers in roaring poses. Shaking his head, he made his way to the largest structure which had a rounded top, it seemed to be the nicest looking of the structures in the area with little visible damage on the outside.

Making his way up the structure's steps he continued his way before coming to a stop as he heard a rock hit the ground behind him. Getting into a defensive stance he looked around for the source of the interruption before a he felt a rock hit his head. Looking up he saw that the ceiling was slowly falling apart before concluding that it was the source of the disturbance. Letting out an irritated hiss he made his way back down the hallway. He soon came to a room near the very end of the structure that was very large and covered in drawings and symbols. The room also held the picture of a large snake with a ruby eye that was carved into the wall. The black mamba stopped before bowing to the carving.

"Whatever higher being that's up their please hear my plea's I have come many times over the last few years and have stopped myself from openly attacking the two legged creatures that you seem to give favor to. But know that because of them I have suffered great grief and heart ache, so I ask that I be repaid for this. I know I am asking a lot, but I want one simple wish granted." He spoke before looking back at the carving whose ruby coated eye seemed to glow he blinked before continuing, "I wish to find happiness and I will do anything to achieve this wish. I beg you, I have lost all that has ever made me happy and I want something of it back." His eyes began to fill with tears, "Please after all that you have done to me I deserve something in return!" He was silent for a few minutes as the tears flowed down his face before he regained control of his emotions, "Thank you for listening to me. I will return for another audience soon." With that he bowed once more before turning around to leave.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the carvings ruby eye glow once more making him stop. Soon the eye began to glow brighter and brighter until the entire room was covered in its glow and the mamba could see nothing but ruby. The glow lasted for a few minutes before it died down and he finally opened his eyes. Looking around he saw that he was in a bamboo forest and that the ground was covered in dirt and grass. How the heck did I get back outside and why is their bamboo everywhere? Pondering this he began to move forward intent on examining his surroundings. However, after slithering a few steps he froze. His body felt different from before he couldn't explain how, but it felt more flexible and less constricting.

He continued his way through the forest until he heard voices nearby and not just any voices. Two leggers he thought bitterly. He quickly hid himself in a bush before waiting for them to pass by. When they did he was greeted to quite a shock. Instead of the tall two leggers that only had fur on their heads and wore weird skin he was greeted to a pair of sheep dressed in the weird skin standing on their back legs. He sat there in shock as he watched them go pondering what was going on. Where the heck am I!? Then it hit him and he knew why this had happened.

That deity I spoke to! It's the reason this has happened! Was I too pushy or do deity's just like messing with us mortals!? Hissing angrily, he cursed whatever deity he had begged too before demanding that it send him back. Once a few minutes had passed and he was still surrounded by bamboo he sighed. There must be some way to get back home, but until then I better be careful this world was owned by two leggers and whether they were covered in a little or a lot of fur he knew one thing and that was that you can't trust a two legger. With this in mind he slithered through the bush intent on first finding a place to stay.

 **What did you think? Please let me know in a review. Next chapter should be up soon.**


	2. Needle in a Haystack

**Disclaimer: I do no own Kung Fu Panda or its characters I only own my OC.**

 **To those of you who were interested enough to check out chapter two I thank you. Now we get into the part where the five meet my OC and you guys finally get a name. I hope you enjoy please R &R.**

The Dragon Warrior and the Furious five stood just outside the Jade Palace waiting for Master Shifu who was speaking to the town doctor. The furious five stood at attention not making a sound, however the dragon warrior was not so silent. Po had been bored from the minute they had gotten here and it was getting harder and harder for the five to ignore him. Finally, one of them broke the silence.

"Po, will you please just calm down."

"What do you mean? I'm calm, I'm so calm that I'm a master of calm!" The rest of the five stared at him, "Ok I maybe a little anxious to hear what Master Shifu and the Doctor are talking about."

"A little anxious?" Crane asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ok really anxious." The rest of the five shook their heads typical Po they thought.

"Why are you so anxious though? I mean the doctor could just be giving him medicine." Mantis asked from Monkey's shoulder.

"If that were true then why are they taking so long?" Po shot back.

"They've only been in there for five minutes." Monkey pointed out.

"A lot can happen in five minutes though."

"Po while that may be true please just be patient."

"Urgh fine." They stood there for a few more minutes before a humming noise was heard. It continued for a minute or two until Tigress lost her patience. She was about to tell him to quit it when the doors to the Jade Palace opened revealing a goat and a red panda.

"Thank you Doctor and don't worry we'll get right on it. Now have a nice day."

"To you as well master Shifu." He bowed before walking past the warriors and down the steps.

Po was about to ask what they had when talking about when Shifu held a hand up silencing him, "Yes Po I will tell you what the doctor and I spoke about. Now all of you come with me." He walked back into the Jade Palace and the others followed him. "The doctor was telling me about a recent influx of patients at the hospital in the last few weeks. The cause of this is due to being bitten by a venomous snake and a very rare one to see in China at that."

"And are we gonna go take care of that big bad slithery snake Master?" Po asked before looking around to see Viper glaring at him. Then he remembered the last time this had happened he gulped before chuckling nervously, "Oh um sorry Viper."

"It's ok Po. So, what kind of snake is it Master?" She replied before turning to Shifu who was taking a scroll off the shelf.

"From the descriptions, the patients gave it would appear to be a Black Mamba."

"Uh what's a black mamba sounds like a spice."

Shifu facepalmed, "A black mamba is a highly dangerous snake that lives in Africa. Not much is known about them, but Oogway encountered them at one point and found them to be very fast though not as fast as a Cheetah."

"Does it say anything about the venom and what's a snake from Africa doing over here?" Crane asked.

"It does not though it is rumored to be more powerful than that of Great Master Viper's. As for how they got here they probably traveled though for what purpose I don't know."

"So how should we deal with this fanged fiend?" Po asked before getting a slap from Viper who glared at him again.

"I'm sending all of you to the bamboo forest to go and find it since that is where it was last spotted, but Master Viper is in charge as she knows the most about snakes. You should leave immediately to insure it doesn't get away."

"One question though Master?"

"Yes Monkey?"

"If this snake's venom is supposed to be so powerful then why hasn't it killed anyone yet?"

"The doctor had an answer for that actually. It seems that not much of the venom was injected and the doctor had some herbs that were able to stop the venom from killing the patients."

"That's a relief then."

"Yes, it is. Now go!"

"We will not fail you master." Tigress said as they all bowed before taking off.

Why does the world just love to hate me? The Black Mamba thought as he slithered through the bamboo trees. He had only been here for two weeks and nothing was going right. First, he couldn't find anything to hunt since this forest seemed to have to rodent or bird what so ever. No wonder I haven't seen any predators they've probably all died or moved on to another area. Secondly the only food he had found was a little white round thing that felt like some type of weird fur. He had taken it from the bag a pair of two leggers had dropped when he had bitten one of them. It strangely it was edible so he figured it wasn't something he shouldn't eat. However, the third and final thing was the worst, five times in the last two weeks he had bitten five different two leggers including the one who had dropped the bag. It was strange ever the two leggers with fur only on their heads weren't as stupid as the two leggers here. He would give them a warning hiss, he'd flash his fangs and black whole like mouth, heck he'd even puffed out his hood for two of them and still they had gotten so close to him that he'd had to bite them. At least the other two leggers had known to stay away from him. The only bright side was that this forest was perfect for sunbathing.

Then he heard voices coming near him, not in the mood to waste more of his precious venom he decided to hide in a bush. He had learned in the last two weeks that after the deity had dropped him here his senses had increased tenfold his hearing was twice as good as it used to be though he still couldn't understand a word the two leggers said. The voices got closer until they were right on top of him, he waited for them to move on, but they didn't. Suddenly he heard on one of the voices get louder before another answered back along with what sounded like a groan. Then to his surprise he heard a hiss along with one of the voices. Another snake what were they doing with these two leggers and how could they communicate with them. Before he could think about this more the bush he was in started to shake. Did they know he was in here? How? They hadn't even been in site when he had jumped in here. Then he saw something hit the ground below him looking at it he saw it was a berry. Oh, you've gotta be kidding me he thought out of all the bushes he had to jump into it had to be a berry bush. The bush continued to shake as the two legger continued to eat berries all the while he tried to hold every instinct back that told him to bite this two leggers fat fingers. Just hold it in be patient be patient he told himself. Then he felt the two legger grab his mid-section. That's it! Striking forward he delivered a dry, but painful bite his offender's hand causing them to let go and yell in pain. Knowing his cover was blown he dropped from the bush before slithering as fast as he could back to his burrow. He did manage to catch a glimpse of what was outside of the bush which only made him slither faster. A Panda, a Tiger, a Monkey, a Crane, a Green mantis, and a green tree viper all of whom he knew were predators. Why world!? Why? He thought.

The warriors of the Jade Palace had left shortly after their conversation with Shifu and now were in the Bamboo forest hunting for the black mamba. The village had cheered as they ran through it wishing them luck in finding the snake that had come to be a menace to the village. Most of the warriors had enjoyed the praise, but Viper did not. Though she knew they were doing this to protect the village she still didn't like the thought of fighting her own kind. For her it was like when Lord Fu Xi had come to the village, the villagers had seen nothing but an evil serpent. She was glad that they hadn't turned on her like last time, but she still was annoyed by how much they judged snakes. It didn't help that Po continued to make comments about her species. She herself was looking forward to meeting this new serpent. Though he was evil her time with Fu Xi was still enjoyable to her since she could interact with another snake after not seeing one for so long.

"So, what can you tell us about Black Mambas that Shifu didn't?" Monkey asked as they searched.

"I don't really know too much about them. Like Shifu said they live in Africa so not much is known about them."

"Still it might help in our search." Tigress told her.

"Ok what would you like to know?"

"Oh, I've got one. If it's called the Black Mamba, why is it so hard to find in this forest of yellow and green?" Po asked they had been searching for about an hour now and hadn't found any trace of the serpent.

"Well it's not black in color Po or at least most of it isn't. They're very lightly colored, like light browns and tan colors. The black comes from the fact that the inside of its mouth is black."

"So, then it's going to be almost impossible to find it?"

"Not impossible, but it's not going to be easy."

"Don't worry Po if the villagers could find it five times then we should be able to find it at least, once right?"

"You're right and when we do we'll make him pay for what he's done!"

Viper sighed as the others nodded in agreement, none of them saw it from her point of view though I guess it was hard when all they did was literally look down on snakes.

"Something wrong Viper?" Tigress asked.

"It's nothing." She said looking away.

"It doesn't sound like nothing." The tiger replied causing the group to stop.

Sighing she turned back to her friends, "It's just all of you are immediately judging this snake as evil. You're all missing it!"

Her outburst stunned the group as she rarely yelled or spoke so loudly.

"Alright then what are we missing then?"

"Fine, we all hurt people when we are protecting the village right? Well what if this snake is just doing that?"

"Biting innocent villagers five times doesn't sound like self-defense to me." Monkey said.

"But the snake never delivered a lethal dose like my father does when fighting bandits. Venomous snakes can decide if they want to inject venom and how much venom they want to inject. If this snake wanted to truly hurt the villagers, then why didn't he put more venom in and why have there only been five attacks?"

"But why attack in the first place though?"

"I don't know, but all I do know is they probably have a reason."

The group continued on for another hour before Po began to complain about a snack break. They argued about it for a few minutes until Po spotted a bush full of berries. He rushed towards it, checking to make sure they were safe before shoveling pawfuls of berries into his mouth.

"Po, we don't have time for a snack break!" Tigress snapped at him as they caught up with him. He didn't stop though making her facepalm.

"Oh, let him eat Tigress it keeps him from complaining." Monkey said before popping a berry into his mouth.

"So how are we going to find this snake exactly I mean we've been searching for two hours and we haven't even found a snake skin." Mantis joked.

They all looked to Viper as she was in charge, "I really don't know I would have thought we would have found something by now especially with Crane searching from the air."

"Maybe we should split up to cover more ground?" Crane asked.

"No, you really don't wanna take this snake on alone."

"Oh, come one Viper it's not like we're walk right into it." Po said reaching for another berry. His hand grabbed something and he thought it was a branch at first, but it felt round? Then he felt something bit his hand, "Ow!" Quickly pulling his hand out he saw that it was bleeding.

"Po what's wrong!?" Tigress asked.

"There it is!" Monkey exclaimed pointing to a lightly colored serpent quickly slithering away from them.

"Tigress take care of Po! The rest of us will go after the snake!" Viper yelled as the four of them took off after the serpent.

"Are you ok Po?" Tigress asked as she got him a bandage for the wound.

"Yeah just a little scratch." He chuckled though she knew he was nervous.

"Let's get you back to the village we don't know if he injected you with venom or not."

"Ok sure." He replied before the two of them made their way out of the forest.

Why does this always happen to me why can't it ever happen to anyone else!? The black mamba thought as he slithered away from his pursuers. Looking back, he saw that only the mantis, viper, and monkey were chasing him. The tiger must have stayed back with the panda, but where was the crane? Then a shadow passed over him, looking up he saw the crane was trying to grab him with its talons. Swerving to the right he dodged the avian's pass on him. This went on for a few minutes till they reached the wall of a cliff. Turning around he saw that all his pursuers had caught up with him. If I'm going down, I'm gonna at least take the ones who aren't a snake down with me. Raising a forth of his body off the ground he hissed threateningly, flashed his black mouth and puffed up his hood.

Watching he saw each of them get into a fighting stance that was like what he had seen some of two leggers from his world get into. Nobody moved as they all stared each other down. Then to his surprise the tree viper who he realized was female got out of her stance and moved towards him. Letting out a loud hiss he warned her to stay back causing her to stop. She seemed to think for a minute before she hissed back a garbled greeting. He could have fainted right there, after two weeks he finally had someone to talk to though it seemed she was very rusty. Now that she was closer he could finally get a good look at her she was green as to be expected, but that was where the familiarities ended, her eyes were a beautiful blue that seemed to draw him in like a fly to a spider's web, he could see some black writing on her upper back which he seen on some two leggers, strangely she was wearing flowers on her head which despite being too much like the two leggers made her even more beautiful. And for the love of goodness she had to be a viper the one snake that made act strangely. She probably wants a response he thought before hissing back his own greeting.

Viper was ecstatic they had finally found the black mamba who she figured out was a male and now she was speaking with him. The others looked at her weirdly, but she didn't care. Strangely he only seemed to speak through hisses. Could he not of leaned to talk? She watched as he slightly relaxed his stance taking her time she looked him over full the first time, his color was very pale brown which contrasted greatly with his dark green eyes which reflected caution and experience. Not wanting to test his patience she hissed to him that her name was Viper before asking for his.

Viper? That's a strange name he thought. Why would her name be her species? He jolted from his thoughts when she asked for his name. Might as well try to be polite.

Vish? Now that's an interesting name she thought, but at least she was making progress. Then she saw him deepen his stance. Confused she looked behind he to see that Crane had stepped forward, "Stay back."

"Are you sure you're even talking to him?" Mantis asked.

"Of course, I am. I just learned his name is Vish."

"Vish?" Monkey asked before laughing.

Were they laughing at him or her? Vish thought either way this monkey needed to be taught a lesson and so he let out a loud hiss telling him to stop.

The masters we jolted from their conversation by a loud hiss from the black mamba who was glaring at Monkey.

"I thought he couldn't understand us?" Monkey asked fearfully.

"He can't, but insults are universal."

"Oh right."

"Let me see if I can get him to come back to the palace with us Shifu may have a way for him to communicate with all of us."

"Alright then I'll go inform Master Shifu. Oh, and ask him if he injected Po with any venom." Crane said before taking off.

Viper nodded before turning back to Vish. She asked him if he had envenomated Po first though he just responded with confusion as to who Po was before asking if it was the panda. She nodded to him and he told her no. When she asked if he would come with them he shook his head, but after a bit of convincing he agreed though Monkey and Mantis had to remain ahead of them.

The four of them headed back to the Jade Palace while Viper wondered what reaction the villagers would have to seeing Vish stroll through the town. The most plausible ones weren't the ones she was hoping for. She just hoped that they could make it to the palace without someone being injured.

 **What did you think? It's a lot longer than the first chapter huh? Well I won't bore you will a long AN so goodbye and please leave a review.**

 **P.S Vish is a Hindi translation of Venom.**


	3. Introductions

**Here's chapter 3 for Mamba out of place. This chapter is similar to the first one in that it is slow, but things should pick back up soon. Please R &R.**

"Monster!" A pig villager yelled.

"Evil Spirit!" A bunny next to him shouted.

"Why isn't he in chains or at least tied up!?" A goose from the back yelled.

"I say tie um both up!", yelled an old rabbit.

"That's Master Viper you idiot!" A goat chastised.

"Oh, right. Sorry!"

Viper sighed this was not what she wanted to happen though it was better compared to some of the alternatives. When they had first entered the village, the citizens had cheered for them, but once they realized Vish wasn't in chains they began to yell and throw insults at him. Luckily, they had made it half-way through the village already with only a little bit farther to go. Looking over at the Black Mamba who seemed to be quite calm given the situation though she figured that was partly because he couldn't hear what was being yelled at him. They soon made it to the jade palace stairs where the crowd that had been following them had finally dispersed.

"Glad that's over with." Mantis said as they climbed the final hundred steps.

"No kidding it's like they didn't like, Vish, for some reason." Monkey joked which earned him a hiss from Viper.

"This isn't a joke Monkey." She told him.

"Looks like one to me. I mean we go out to find a bad guy and end up bringing him home." Monkey replied.

"He does have a point." Mantis pointed out.

"Still you could be nicer." The serpent told them.

"Ugh fine Mom."

Viper shook her head as they finally made it to the top of the stairs. They were met by Master Shifu and Master Crane who had been waiting for them. "Master Viper, I believe your friend has some explaining to do."

"Yes Master." She bowed.

Vish looked at her with confusion. Why was she bowing to this red panda? Maybe it was a form of greeting he thought before mimicking her actions. The four warriors were surprised by Vish's show of respect though Shifu seemed unfazed.

"Would you be so kind as to explain your actions towards the villagers Mr.…?"

"His name is, Vish, master and he does not speak our language." Viper told him.

"Would you mind asking him the question and then translating his answer for us?"

"Of course, Master." She said before turning towards Vish who seemed to be surveying the Jade Place. She let out a low hiss to get his attention before asking Shifu's question.

Villagers? He had heard that word before back in his own world. Those must be the loud people we passed. Looking at the red panda he saw that he meant no harm so Vish decided to answer truthfully.

He had been defending himself! She knew that was probably the case. Ha take that Monkey, Viper thought as she heard his reply. She quickly relayed the information back to Shifu who began to stroke his goatee in thought.

"Since he only attacked out of self-defense and he did give multiple warnings I guess we can't really condemn him for his actions. He also didn't kill anyone, so I guess this is just a misunderstanding." The Red Panda told them.

"So, he gets off scot free then?" Monkey asked incredulously.

"Yes, Monkey, he gets off as you say scot free."

"What!?" A female voice yelled from behind them. Turning around they saw Po and Tigress standing in the doorway. "What do you mean he gets to go free?" Making her way towards the group they could see that she wasn't too happy about hear the news.

"He has committed no crimes that we can commit him of, so he is innocent." Shifu told her, "Is that a problem?"

Seeing that she was being challenged by her master and to a lesser degree her father she backed down, "Of course not, Master."

"If anyone was wondering I'm ok." Po said as he walked up to them. They could see that the finger Vish had bitten was wrapped in a bandage.

"We know ,Po. We were informed that you had not been injected with venom. Heck I was the one who told you." Crane told him.

"Oh right." Po replied scratching the back of his head, "So what are we gonna do with snakey here?"

"Hmm I would like to know his story before we make any decisions." Shifu said before turning to Viper. Knowing what to ask she hissed to Vish the question.

Vish was annoyed by all these questions. First, they wanna know why he did stuff then they ask how he got here. What's next? Are they gonna ask all the places he's been. Sighing he tried to come up with the correct words for his response. Truthfully, he didn't know how to explain how he got here, it wasn't that he didn't know it was the fact that snakes didn't have a hiss for half the stuff that had happened to him. Finally coming up with the correct words or something that sounded like what had happened to him he answered.

Viper was confused by his answer before telling the others what he had said, "From what he told me he's not from around here. He said he went into a white stone structure before praying to a deity. After that he ended up here after seeing nothing, but red."

"That is strange. Does he know what deity he prayed to?"

Viper relayed the question before telling them Vish's answer, "No not really he does know that it was a snake deity though."

"Could it have been one of the dragon gods?"

"I don't think so master I've never heard of them having this kind of power."

Shifu began to stroke his goatee once more, "Hmm I think it would be best if Vish stayed here for the time being. He needs to learn how to communicate with us if we are to figure out how to get him back home. He also can't go back to the forest otherwise there's no telling what the villagers will do to him." He turned to Viper, "I'm putting you in charge of his teachings Master Viper."

"Yes Master." She bowed.

He began to walk away before he stopped, "The scroll said that his species is very aggressive, so maybe you should take him into the training hall tomorrow and see how it goes. While you do that, I will look through some of the ancient texts from something to help bridge the language barrier." With that he began to walk away again.

The warriors watched him go before turning back to Vish who was entranced by all the colors around him. Deciding that the rest of the five should meet him she began introductions, "Um so this is, Vish." Hearing his name called he turned towards her. Seeing that she had his attention she gestured to her team mates before telling him their names.

Monkey, Mantis, Crane, Tigress and Po? So, all of them were named after their species? Well expect the panda. Their parents must not have been creative with their naming. Then he noticed that the tiger and the three he had met before were leaving which meant it was just him, Viper and Po. Wanting to know what was going on he hissed his question to her. Watching he saw her try to sugar coat her answer.

The trio were now in the kitchen with Po making rice balls while Viper tried to explain the situation to Vish. He hadn't been happy when she told him that he couldn't leave, but after listening to her reasons he had consented. He had never heard of training before, but he guessed it was like what he had seen the dark furred two leggers do when fighting each other. Viper continued to explain things to him until Po gave them both a pair of rice balls for dinner before turning away not wanting to see their jaws unhinge.

Viper was surprised to see Vish eat the rice balls without complaint. She figured that he would have been more curious about the new food. She got her answer when he told her that he had eaten it before though only once. Now they were in the hallway of the dorms. Slithering down it they came to a stop at the fourth door on the right. She opened the door to reveal a near empty room with a small bed on the opposite wall. Viper apologized for the emptiness of the room though he told her that he had seen worse. With that done she told him goodnight before slithering to her own room.

Vish watched her go into her room before shutting the doors as she had shown him. Slithering onto the bed he tried to get himself comfortable however it just didn't feel right. It felt like how a two legger would sleep. Resolving to fix it he got off the bed before flipping it upside down. Slithering onto the fabric he found this position much more comfortable. As he began to doze off he remembered what Viper had told him would happen in the morning. About two hours after sunrise a bell would sound. When it rang, they would all get up and greet their master who was the red panda named Shifu, then they would train until they were given a brake. Knowing that he would be up before them all he decided that when he got up he would sunbathe until a few minutes before the bell would ring.

 **What did you guys think please let me know in a review or PM next chapter should be up soon. Even though this story hasn't gotten any reviews yet I still thank those who read it.**


	4. Sparring

**Here's the fourth chapter of Mamba out of place the next one should be up in a week or so. I also wanna thank those who have favorited or are following this story. With that I'll leave you guys to it.**

Viper woke up early the next morning to make sure that Vish woke up on time since he probably had never done this before. To her surprise however she found the room was completely empty and the bed was flipped over. For a second she thought he'd been taken, but her rational mind told her that they would have heard it happen and the window would have been broken into.

Where could he be then she wondered. Did he leave and go back to the bamboo forest? If so why? Resolving to check the whole Jade Palace before telling the others he had left she began to do just that. She first checked the kitchen only to find it empty, after that she checked the Hall of Heroes. Maybe he wanted to look at those colors again she reasoned. However, her search turned up empty. She decided that since she was up here she might as well try to spot him. She scanned the ground below her with little success until she saw an imperfection in the courtyard of the training hall. That must be him!

She quickly slithered down the stairs and over to where she had seen him. Once she opened the door to the courtyard her suspicions were proven to be true. There in the middle of the courtyard was the pale serpent she had been looking for. Looking closer she saw an expression of contentment on his face. She had to admit it was kind of adorable to see him like this compared to yesterday. Deciding that he had sunbathed enough she hissed his name.

Vish was content to lay there sunbathing, but it seemed that the universe had other ideas. He heard someone hiss his name snapping him out of his bliss. Opening his eyes, he saw Viper standing next to him with a smirk on her face. What was she so happy about? Getting up he asked her what she was doing here. She told him that she had come to get him before the bell rang. I thought she said the bell wasn't supposed to sound for another ten minutes? Shrugging he got up and followed her back to the Barracks where they sat in the kitchen waiting for the bell to right.

While they waited, she informed him that she and him were gonna spar before going into the training hall. She told him that she wanted to test his skills so that she knew what they needed to work on. He just nodded while trying to figure out what she meant by sparing. Seeing his confusion, she told him that they were basically gonna fight though they wouldn't be inflicting much damage to each other and that he couldn't use his venom.

No venom? Vish thought, fine then good thing I've learned how to fight without using venom.

When the bell rang the two serpents slithered back to the hallway to greet their Master. "Good morning Master," All of them said in a chorus though Vish just hissed the words. Then Shifu noticed that Po was missing. Sighing he told the rest of them to prepare for training. Once they left the hallway they heard an "Ow!" from behind them which made the Furious Five except for Tigress of course chuckle.

Vish slithered into a chair next to Viper before watching as they all began eating. All of them but the tiger seemed to be eating some form of dead lice. He had seen the two leggers from his world eat similar food so he decided it must be safe to eat. What struck him a curious was that the tiger he remembered her name was Tigress, she was eating little white cubes. How does that fill her up? Maybe it's like how a mouse doesn't look like much but ends up filling you up? Then he saw that she was staring back at him with a hard expression. Not one to back down from a fair fight he glared back.

They sat there for what felt like hours though it was only a few minutes neither backing down their pride wouldn't allow it. Everyone else watched shocked to see the new guy challenging Tigress. Viper was a little nervous as she hoped that the situation didn't escalate. Then the bell rang again signaling that they were supposed to start their training.

Everyone else began to head to the training hall. Not wanting them to be late Viper decided to end this, "Come on guys let's get to the training hall we don't wanna be late." She told Tigress before she hissed the same thing to Vish. Tigress and Vish didn't move but then almost in sync they turned away from each other and followed her out to the training hall.

Viper and Vish stopped at the courtyard as they had discussed. Vish watched as Tigress walked into the training hall while Viper began to move stuff around before hissing to her. Tigress stopped and glanced back at him as she opened the door. He stared at her before nodding and turning back to Viper. Tigress stood there in shock before giving a small smirk and walking into the training hall.

Viper turned back to Vish none the wiser about what just happened. She first asked him if he was ready and he just nodded before slithering to the other side of the ring. Getting into her stance she waited for him to make the first move. To her surprise though he just stood there in his own stance but he was slowly swaying side to side. I thought Mambas were supposed to be aggressive, if so why is he just waiting? Could he have more experience than she though or is he just trying to psych me out.

Vish watched her waiting for her to make a move. He figured that she thought he would be inexperienced and make the first move. However, he had been around the block a few times and while he knew it was the early bird who gets the worm, he also knew that being impatient usually led to disaster and an empty stomach. It also helped that he was raised by ambush predators.

Then Vish saw her eye twitch and her mouth slowly opened. In an instant her tail was heading straight towards his upper body. In response, he jumped over her strike before deciding to copy her.

Viper was a little surprised to see him dodge her strike so easily, but she snapped out of it in time to block his counter attack. Spinning around she tried to bring her tail down on his head only for him to easily dodge to the side. She tried this a few more times only to be met with the same result every time. Deciding to change tactics she jumped back to the other side of the ring before rushing towards him once more. She jumped into the air before using her tail to slash diagonally. She had almost made contact when he ducked and she went sailing over his head. Then she felt something wrap around her just below her neck stopping her in midair and causing the air to be pushed out from her lungs. Looking down she saw that Vish had two coils wrapped around her though not tight enough to obstruct her breathing. She struggled trying to escape his grip, but every time she got close to escaping he would shake her around and she would be back to square one. Sighing she conceded defeat. Vish slowly lowered her to the ground before releasing her from his grasp.

Catching her breath Viper stared at Vish as he checked to make sure he hadn't hurt her. Once her breathing was more controlled she hissed to him that she was impressed and it was true. She a Master of snake style and student of Master Shifu for ten years had been defeated with little effort by this new comer.

Vish blushed at the praise which confused him since he hadn't done that in years. Not since, no don't think about it it's in the past! Not wanting her to get suspicious he hissed back his thanks before telling her that she had done well too.

Viper watched as a blush which was easily noticeable due to his coloration appear on his face at hearing her praise. Then she thought she saw a bit of pain appear in his eyes however when she looked again it was gone. It was probably nothing she thought before hearing his reply which made her blush too. They stood there in silence before she asked him if he wanted to go again. His response was to get back into his stance, she smiled before lunging at him once more.

They spared for about an hour before Viper decided it was enough. When they had caught their breaths, they looked up to see that Shifu, Po and the rest of the five had been watching them. The two snakes shared a glance before bowing to each other and then to their Master.

"You both did very well and I am most impressed with you Mamba we did not know you possessed such skills." Viper and Vish blushed at the praise, "You may take a break now. We will resume training at an hour after lunch." With that he left to go look through scrolls.

"Wow you guys were awesome! Viper was like jump, strike whoosh then Vish was like block dodge strike kabluey!" Po exclaimed while doing motions with his arms to make it more realistic

Viper deadpanned while Vish just sat there confused, "Um thanks Po."

"No problem. Everyone needs a little Dragon Warrior Praise from time to time." With that he left to go raid the kitchen.

Monkey and Mantis chased after him to stop him from doing just that leaving Tigress, Viper and Vish alone in the courtyard, "I also have to admit that he did better than expected." Tigress spoke causing Viper to stare in shock at her complimenting someone, "Though he still has a lot to learn before he becomes a master." With that she left the courtyard giving Vish a parting glare which he returned.

Viper told Vish of the others compliments he didn't really care about what Po said, but he seemed to care a great deal about what Tigress had said. They were now in his room along with a couple of scrolls. Vish was intrigued by the symbols that were written on them as they looked like the ones he had seen in the ruins. Viper told them that they were the words he would be learning so that he could speak to the others.

They worked on the symbols for a few hours before returning to the training hall. Viper decided to start him on the Jade Tortoise as she had seen him struggle with his balance during their sparring. Jumping onto it she beckoned him to join her. When he did, the tortoise began to sway before becoming still. Vish asked her why they were up here and she told him it was to promote balance.

First, she let him get used to the swaying by jumping onto and off the tortoise. He fell off or into the tortoise a few times but eventually he could stay on for a few minutes without much trouble. Then she began to spar with him. This time she had the advantage since he had never experienced this before. She expected him to complain that it wasn't fair like Po did at times when he had to train but he didn't make a peep even when he fell off he just got back on.

The training concluded with Vish managing to knock her off once compared to the twenty times he had fallen off. They had eaten dinner and then gone to bed shortly after that. Vish now laid on his bed thinking of what he had learned. Viper had taught him the basics of the two legger's language with him now being able to say hello, goodbye, thank you and a few other things. She had also told him about her friends. It seemed that she had been with them for ten years now which surprised him since not many snakes made it to that age in his world, he chocked it up to her skills and the fact that this world seemed to be safer than his world.

She had also told him that Po despite his clumsiness and from what he had seen lack of a brain, was a very important person called the Dragon Warrior. Now that had really confused him, he knew what dragons looked like they were supposed to be serpent or lizard like. Po had none of these qualities in fact if he had grown up in his world he would have died very early on.

The last thing that he thought about was the tiger named Tigress. She was like the tigers in his world, she was tough as a rock, never backed down and she seemed to carry a lot of pride about her. He felt drawn to her as she did not seem afraid of him even a little. He had to deal with animals and two leggers running away from him all his life, but he could see that she would never do that and for some reason that made him happy. He knew he could never stay in this world, but with Viper and Tigress here he knew his time here would be interesting.

 **The balls rolling now huh? Well I got nothing else to say besides what I said earlier.**


	5. Monkey's pranks

**Hello all here's the fifth chapter of Mamba out of place. I want to thank you all for reading my story first of all. To those who have chosen to follow this story I want to thank you as well. Without further ado here's chapter five. Please R &R.**

Viper groaned as she woke up. It was a Saturday one of the few days that the warriors of the Jade Palace didn't train. She opened her eyes and saw that sunlight only covered about half of her room meaning that she had woken up about one hour early. Sighing she settled back down intent on getting more sleep.

Then she heard a giggle. A very familiar giggle at that. Monkey must be setting up to prank Po again she thought. Shrugging to herself she decided that she would go see Monkey's prank before returning to her room to sleep.

She opened her door expecting to see Po's door open with Mantis watching the primate set up his prank. To her surprise however she saw that the prankster duo was standing outside Vish's room.

"Guys, what are you doing?" She asked drowsily.

"Shh!" Mantis replied before pointing up.

Viper looked up to see a few ropes connected to a sack of flour. Then she saw one of the ropes was tied around the opening of the sack as well as connected to Vish's door. She stifled a giggle at the thought of a completely white Vish. However, then she cringed at what his possible reaction could be.

"Um are you guys sure you should be doing this? I mean you don't know what his reaction will be."

"Of course, we are, Viper. I mean it's only a little flour what's the worst that can happen?"

"That's 5 pounds of flour and the worst thing that could happen is him biting you. I've heard that being bitten by a Black Mamba leads to a slow and painful death." A female voice said from behind Viper. She turned around to see that it was Tigress who had been woken up by the commotion.

Monkey cringed at her comment rethinking his plan for a second. Then he waved her comment off, "Pff he'd have to catch me first and I'm sure I could out run him."

Tigress crossed her arms before she pointed out something he had forgotten, "You barely caught up to him in the forest how are you gonna outrun him?"

"Why do you care?" Mantis asked suddenly.

"I don't I just think that this isn't a wise idea." She replied. In truth, she just didn't want to see Vish get pranked. They may not have been friends but he gave her respect so she decided to do the same. She also knew that he had a fierce temper though she had not experienced it she had seen it in his eyes during their glaring contests. "Also, what are you gonna do if he doesn't wake up for another few hours? Just wait here?"

"No, I've timed this perfectly. Vish gets up at the same time every morning which is in about five minutes." Viper nodded confirming his statement.

Tigress was surprised. Out of all of them she figured Viper would know the dangers of pranking Vish. Why wasn't she doing more to spot this? "Viper, why are you helping them?"

"I'm not but I think it would be funny to see him covered in white, besides he won't kill Monkey just maim him." Viper replied with a smile causing Monkey to look at her in shock.

Tigress nodded while Monkey was annoying she didn't want to see her friend die. However, maiming wasn't killing and she was fine with that. Plus, she wondered how Vish would maim as compared to her. Monkey looked at the females in shock wondering if his health was really in jeopardy. Shaking his head, he dispelled these thoughts confident in his plan.

With that the group settled into silence waiting for Vish to be pranked. They didn't have to wait long as they soon saw the door to Vish's room open slightly then all they saw was white. When their vision cleared in front of Vish's room was a pile of flour with a serpent figure in the middle. Vish was covered from head to toe in flour.

Tigress watched waiting for Vish to hiss in anger but instead all she saw on his face was a look of confusion. She watched as he turned to them before hissing softly to Viper.

Before Viper could give a response, she was cut off by Monkey and Mantis's howling laughter. They watched as the two Masters rolled around on the barracks flour like little children. Then Po's door open with the Panda sticking his head out to see what all the commotion was about. Once he saw Vish covered in white he joined Mantis and Monkey on the floor.

Seeing that they weren't going to stop laughing anytime soon Viper decided to answer Vish's question. However, his response make her laugh.

Vish watched in confusion as Po, Monkey and Mantis were laughing themselves to death. He had just woken up moments before intent on starting the morning off with an hour of sunbathing. However, when he opened the door his vision went completely white. Once he had gotten it out of his eyes he noticed that the floor was covered in white along with the rest of his body. Strangely the color had a feeling to it, it felt as soft as a leaf but itchy as well. He had looked to Viper for an explanation but her only answer was that this was a prank pulled by Monkey. This confused him even further. What was a prank?

"What did he say?" Tigress asked Viper.

"He doesn't know what a prank is and I don't know how to explain it to him." Viper was having trouble keeping her laughter. Not wanting to irritate Vish she put her tail to her lips trying to hold her laughter in.

He didn't know what a prank was? Then Monkey's prank was all for nothing since the prank didn't mean anything if the victim didn't understand it. Tigress found that humorous so much so that she let out a chuckle. However, once she was done the barracks had suddenly gone silent. Looking at her friends she saw that all of them were looking at her in shock.

"Did Tigress just laugh?" Monkey asked cleaning out his ears.

"I think so. Well I better go see my Dad before the world ends." Po said walking away.

"Po this isn't the first time she's laughed and it wasn't even a laugh it was a chuckle." Viper said coming to her friend's aid.

"I know it's just so inconsistent that it still shocks me." Po replied before heading into the kitchen.

"So, what were laughing about cause is sure wasn't my prank otherwise you'd have done it sooner?" Monkey asked.

"I was chuckling because your prank was pointless." Tigress replied.

"What?" Monkey was dumbstruck how was his plan pointless? It had gone off flawlessly.

"Vish, doesn't know what a prank is so you can't take pleasure in knowing that you humiliated him." Tigress smirked as she saw Monkey's mouth drop while looking from Vish to her and then to the flour. "I hope you enjoy cleaning up your mess."

The three masters and Vish watched her walk away before one of them spoke or rather hissed. While Viper found the prank laughable she figured that Vish would want the flour off before it hardened. He nodded before following her to the showers while Monkey and Mantis began to pick up the flour before Master Shifu found out.

A few hours later Viper and Vish were standing outside the Hall of Heroes the ground around them covered in scrolls. After leaving Monkey and Mantis to clean up their mess she had taken Vish to get cleaned up before they went to breakfast. Vish had been confused by the water falling from the ceiling thinking that it was raining inside. Viper had found this humorous as she explained to him it was called a shower and that is was like a waterfall.

Once they had gotten all cleaned up they had headed to the kitchen where they found Crane and Po who were still eating. They had just started to get their food out when Crane had told them that Shifu had found out about Monkey's prank and that he was still cleaning up the flour. Viper and Po laughed at this while Vish remained silent as he ate. Then Viper had remembered that she needed to tell Vish what pranks were. His reaction had been unexpected as he asked what the purpose of these hatchling actions were. She had told him that it was for laughs mostly for the prankster. His response was even more unexpected from his last one for he had suddenly become irritate and when Crane had laughed at her translation she saw his eye twitch before he nailed the bird in the eye with a bean bun. After that everyone was silent with all of them glancing at each other. Once they were done with eating Viper has asked Vish if he wanted to learn more Chinese and he had excepted. It was a particularly nice day so they decided to do it outside.

Up above them Monkey watched the pair of snakes though he was more glaring at Vish then watching them. He had just finished cleaning all the flour of the floor, ceiling and walls of the barracks which had taken him three hours to do. His arms were tired from cleaning but he knew he had to get even with Vish and he knew just how to do it. He couldn't do it alone so he enlisted Mantis's help. Said Mantis was hiding behind a pillar behind the snakes with a small ink pot. However, the contents of the pot weren't ink but honey colored black. All the Mantis had to do was wait for both of them to become distracted then he could move in and switch his pot with the one they were using.

His time came when Vish was having trouble drawing a word. Viper then gestured for him to come to her side and watch her draw it. Once Viper started to write and Vish was watching her Mantis made his move using his speed to switch his pot with the one Vish was using. He was back to his spot before either of them looked up though Vish had glanced in his direction. Up top Monkey stifled a giggle as he watched Vish try to draw the word again.

Vish dipped his brush into the pot before slowly attempting to draw the symbol the way Viper had shown him. He got about a fourth of the way through it when his brush became stuck to the paper he tried to pull it off to no avail. Viper watched in confusion, "Something wrong?"

Vish looked up from his struggles before answering with one of the words she had taught him the other day, "Stuck."

Stuck? She thought. Did he not remember what it looked like and his mind was stuck? Slithering over to him she saw that this was not the case. His brush was firmly stuck to the scroll and it seemed that his tail was stuck to the brush. She grabbed his ink pot before looking into it. She was shocked to see that something other than ink was in it. Monkey must have put something sticky in it she mused. Putting down the pot she moved to help Vish.

While Vish pulled away from the paper Viper was pulling on the other side of the paper hoping to get it off him. They pulled three times before they got both the paper and brush off his tail but they were both sent to the ground. Vish got up and examined his tail to see that he was missing a few scales which angered him greatly. Then he saw Viper on the floor still dazed from hitting her head and moved to help her. Viper raised her head and saw Vish was holding out his tail to help her up which she accepted, however when she went to let go she couldn't. It seemed that some of the sticky substance from the pot had gotten onto her tail and was not keeping them together.

Monkey who was still on the roof and Mantis who was behind the pillar silently started to laugh.

Viper and Vish stared at where their tails were connected in silence with both having different reactions. Vish was confused as to why she was still holding his tail before he felt the substance from before and deduced that that was the reason, he figured that she would have an idea on how to get it off so he waited for her to speak. Viper on the other hand was less calm her face was flushed red as she was holding another snake's tail an act reserved only for lovers and family. She watched for a negative reaction but his face was stoic. Calming down she decided that they should quickly separate themselves before someone came along.

"Pull." She hissed.

Pull? Was that really the best she could come up with he wondered. Worked last time I guess. Nodding he pulled away from her while she pulled away from him. They pulled for a minute or two and Viper thought she could feel her and Vish's tails starting to separate. They were so close she thought then the door to the Hall of Heroes began to open. Hearing the door open broke her concentration which resulted in her not pulling as hard as Vish was. The result was her being thrown into Vish by a particularly strong pull.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that Master Shifu was in front of them wearing a shocked expression and his mouth wide open. She was confused until she realized that she wasn't on the marble that surrounded the Hall of Heroes, she was on something soft and scaly. She didn't want to look down but she did. Looking down she saw that she was on top of Vish and that they were in a very awkward position. To add more wood to the fire she had headbutted Vish when he pulled her knocking him out and leaving him with an awkward expression.

She felt he face flush before she stuttered out a few words, "M-master this isn't what it looks like."

Shifu was still shocked but he managed to respond to her words, "Then please explain."

"I was helping him with his Chinese when his tail and brush got stuck on his paper. I went to help him but I ended up getting us both stuck together. We were trying to separate from each other when you opened the door and well you know the rest." Her face was still flushed but she was glad that Vish wasn't awake to see this.

"How did your tails get stuck together?"

"There was a sticky substance in his pot and it was on my tail when he tried to help me up after I'd been knocked down." She answered as Shifu walked over to Vish's ink pot and examined it.

"This is honey." He said before turning to her. His expression hardened before he spoke with a commanding tone, "Monkey get down here."

Monkey who had been silently laughing till this point suddenly became silent and fearful at Shifu's words. He weighed the options of following the order and not following the order eventually the first one won and he jumped down joining his master. Mantis seeing this joined his buddy intent on going down with him.

"Monkey did you not learn from your earlier prank?" Shifu asked while Viper glared at the simian still trying to disconnect herself from Vish.

"No Master." Monkey replied.

Shifu sighed, "I'm not going to punish you this time besides cleaning up your mess, but next time leave the others out of your pranks please." Then he turned to Viper, "Come with me I have something to get the honey off you and Vish." Turning around he walked back through the door with Viper following while dragging Vish behind her careful that he didn't hit something.

A few days passed after this with Monkey continuing to pull pranks on Vish though he made sure to leave the others out of it. These included drenching him in water while he was sunbathing, locking the doors to his room and window, and finally trying to scare him with a mask though the last one ended with Vish's coils around his neck. Undeterred by his previous failure the simian was now preparing to give Vish the greatest prank ever.

Vish and Viper slithered out of the training hall having just finished their extended training session. Viper had had him go through the spinning logs, sparing posts and then they had spared for a while. She hadn't had him try the fire pit yet since his flexibility was almost on par with hers. Once they opened the door they waited a few seconds before slithering out making sure that Monkey wasn't trying to pull another prank.

With all the pranks Monkey, had been playing on him Vish thought he was back in the jungle as he always had his guard up. Monkey wasn't too bad he thought at least he wasn't like the Monkeys he had seen that he knew ate snakes. But now after all these pranks he knew Monkey need to be taught a lesson like he had done to other monkeys. Looking over to Viper he saw that she was on the lookout for anything unusual as well however when her eyes met his she quickly looked away. This had been happening ever since he had woken up after the honey prank, when he would ask her why she would just tell him it was nothing. He shook his head he knew that he wasn't supposed understand the opposite sex.

"Viper." Vish asked.

"Hmm?" She replied looking at him though not making eye contact.

"Teach, Monkey, lesson." He told her using what little words he knew to communicate with her.

"How?" She asked using simple words that she knew he knew. Secretly she was happy that he was making progress on his language skills.

"Don't know." He thought about how to teach Monkey as lesson without trying to kill him like he would do with monkeys back in his world when they annoyed him. Then he had an idea he remembered that snakes had another defense mechanism when something was annoying them that didn't involve running or killing. "Plan."

"You have a plan?" She asked and he nodded. Truthfully, she wanted to get Monkey back for what he did to them. She hadn't been able to look Vish in the eye since that day and Monkey needed to learn not to mess with them.

"Yes. You trust me?"

"Of course, as long as it isn't anything dangerous." Vish shook his head, "I'll help you then."

"Thanks."

They soon reached the barracks where they saw that Po was making dinner. They sat down and began to talk though it was only trivial things. Soon the others joined them though once Monkey walked in the two snakes watched him intently. He looked back at them before chuckling and sat down. A few minutes later, Po announce that dinner was served and began to pass out bowls filled with rice balls. However, Monkey soon got up and helped Po pass the bowls out.

"Thanks Monkey."

"No problem always happy to help." He replied before turning around and giving Vish and Viper their bowls.

Vish stared at the rice balls with interest before moving his tail and poking Viper three times. She glanced at him and he flicked his tongue out.

Soon enough all the bowls were passed out and they all began eating. Vish found that the first of his rice balls were normal but the last one had a different taste. Smirking he slowly began swallowing it, out of the corner of his eyes he saw Monkey staring at him.

Viper and Monkey watched as Vish finished his last rice ball before relaxing. Monkey waited and waited wondering when the sauce he had put in the rice ball would kick in. Then Vish coughed, then he coughed again and again. Within moments he was in a coughing fit, then suddenly his chair flipped over sending him to the ground gasping for breath. All the of them stared in shock until Viper bolted over to help him. Her efforts were in vain for a few minutes after Vish flipped himself upside down in his struggles before he fell still.

Viper quickly put her head to his chest before bursting into tears and shaking her head. All the others looked on in shock not knowing what to do. Then Po spoke his voice cracking, "You said it was just some spicy sauce. You never said that this was going to happen."

"What?" Tigress asked harshly looking intensely at the Panda.

Po seeing that he was caught answered her, "M-monkey, said that the sauce he I mean we put in ,Vish's rice ball was just some Mongolian sauce."

"Po!" Monkey exclaimed. He knew that this was a serious situation but he never thought that Po would rat him out so quickly.

"What!? We just killed someone it's not like we can keep it a secret!"

"V-vish, told me that some foods in his world are toxic to snakes especially spicy sauces." Viper choked out before glaring at Monkey. Her eyes were covered in tears though beneath it he could see a deep anger.

"T-this wasn't supposed to happen it was just a prank." Monkey wailed.

"It seems this time you took it to far then." Tigress said harshly before sighing, "You know what we have to do." She didn't wanna have to do this but rules were rules and they couldn't let this slide.

Monkey gulped killing anyone was the quickest route to Chorh-Gom Prison and they were especially harsh on murders, "Please no." He begged shaking his head in fear. This wasn't happening this couldn't be happening! It was just a prank something to make people laugh not to kill. Now he would be just like his brother. A criminal.

"You said you got that sauce from Mongolia, right? Seems like some type of ironic justice that you're going to be sent there." Viper told him with a glare.

"Please guys I'll do anything! If I go to Chor-Gom it would ruin my reputation and dishonor my mother and family." Monkey couldn't believe this everyone had turned against him though they had good reason to. Even Viper the sweetest of them wasn't giving him any sympathy.

Viper and Tigress looked to each other before nodding, "Anything?"

"Yes anything!" Monkey yelled throwing himself at their feet.

"Will you promise never to prank ,Vish again?" Viper asked with a hardened expression before it dissolved into something else.

"Yes of course! Wait what!?" Monkey looked up to see Viper and Tigress smirking at him. Then he looked behind him to see Vish was standing behind them like nothing had happened.

"Ha pranked you!" Viper exclaimed.

"But he you what!?" Monkey exclaimed not understanding what had just happened. Looking around he saw that everyone but Viper, Vish and Tigress had similar expressions.

"Hmm I think we may have broken him." Viper chuckled before answering his question, "Vish knew that you would pull something tonight so he decided to pay you back. He enlisted my help and I did the same with Tigress. Once he saw you were helping Po with the bowls he gave me the signal and I did the same to Tigress from there Vish played his part and we played ours."

"You scared the dickens out of us!" Monkey yelled with the others nodding. He also saw that Po had passed out probably thinking that Vish was a zombie once he had gotten back up.

"True and we're sorry about that but, Vish, didn't think there was any other way to get you to stop."

Monkey sighed before walking over to Vish, "You got me good, Vish, I'll keep my promise." Vish nodded and shook the simians hand.

Then Vish coughed causing Monkey to jump backwards. Everyone else laughed though Vish killed it when he laughed creepily. Then Crane's laugh rose above everyone else's and just like last time Vish threw something at him.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Crane yelled. Though it was only the second time he was already sick of it.

Vish, didn't understand all the words he said but he did catch the word why. The bird wanted to know his reason for throwing stuff at him? How did he not know why he had been doing it when he threw the bowl at him? Vish sighed inwardly the bird wasn't from his word so he probably didn't know that he was doing anything wrong. Or the bird was just feigning ignorance in which case he would throw something bigger next time. Seeing that the others were looking at him expectantly he decided to indulge their curiosity.

Viper listened to his story intently before chuckling. That was the reason he threw stuff at Crane when he was laughing? I guess it's a good reason even if he shouldn't do that. Knowing that the others would want to hear a translation she turned to them, "It seems that in his world birds would mock him with their chirps and tweets which sounded like laughter. He would usually throw something at them to get them to shut up. The reason he threw stuff at Crane is simply because he is a bird and he was laughing around Vish."

Crane sighed not knowing how to respond to that, "All the same could you please stop doing that. I promise that I'm not laughing at you I'm laughing at, Monkey" Viper generously translated the parts that Vish couldn't understand.

"Fine." Vish said before he slithered out of the room. Everyone watched him all of them standing still shocked by his bluntness.

"Viper, I don't think we'll ever understand that snake." Crane said to which she nodded.

"That may be true but I look forward to getting as close to understanding him as possible." And she meant that. She didn't know a lot of his past so it was hard to judge his actions when they could be perfectly justified in his world. She hoped that Master Shifu could find something that would allow them to communicate with him fully. Translations only went so far and there weren't enough hisses for him to really tell her much. Until then however she stood by what she said and looked forward to understanding the enigma that was Vish.

 **How was it? I think I did pretty well but tell me what you think. Also this is my longest chapter for this story and I hope to make them even better and longer.**


	6. Flames of the Past

**Welcome all to chapter 6 of Mamba out of place. First I wanna thank all of you who have either followed or favorited this story it means a lot to me. I also wanna give a shoutout to C.a enchanted sword for being the first person to write a review for this story hopefully it's the first of many. Now this chapter has a lot more action then the last couple but not by much, don't worry though the next one will have a little action but will also explore more of Vish's character. Without further ado I'll let you guys read the chapter. Please R &R. **

Vish watched in confusion as Viper dodged and weaved around pillars of flame that shot up from the fire pit. He understood that she was using it to test her flexibility, but he didn't understand why they were using fire. He didn't like fire, it brought nothing but destruction and bad memories. He had tolerated the fire that was around the Jade Palace since it wasn't very big and it seemed that it was controlled. However, he refused to use the things that held the fire which Viper had told him were called candles. When she asked him why he had told her he didn't need it which was partially true as he was used to the dark. Then he saw her jump off the fire pit and no surprise there wasn't a burn on her. Now she was gesturing him over for his turn. Hissing internally, he slithered over to her.

"Ok Vish we're gonna start it on low ok? It shouldn't be too difficult but I'm sure you'll do fine." Viper told him with a smile. His flexibility was on par with hers but she figured that they should start at the beginning.

Sighing internally, he nodded before getting ready. He briefly considered telling her about his hatred of fire, but this was snuffed out by his pride. He wouldn't be seen as a coward even if when it came to fire he was one. He watched for the signal then she nodded to him and he jumped on the fire pit.

Viper watched as he expertly dodged each of the flames weaving around one before dodging the next one. If she didn't know any better she'd have thought, he had done this before. However, this was only level two, she wanted to see how he handled level five. She moved over to the dial that would increase the difficulty, she told Vish what she was doing before turning the dial. This went on for a few more minutes with Vish doing just as well as she had though there were a few close calls. Then she turned the dial to level five.

Vish felt the workout begin to take its toll on his body. He had never worked out like this before even back in his world the scorching jungle was nothing compared to this. The heat from the flames wasn't the only thing taking its toll however, in the brief moments he saw the flames when he would dodge them visions from his past would appear. Trying to stop these he shut his eyes and used his finely tuned senses to feel the heat before it even left the tube then he would dodge. Then he felt the flames come faster and faster almost too fast for him to sense at times. Knowing it was becoming too much he opened his eyes to find the walkway so he could jump off. Then a pillar of flames shot up right in front of him and he froze, behind him another pillar of flames shot up to the left of his tail burning it and breaking him out of his state.

Viper watched in horror as she watched Vish freeze on the fire pit before having his tail burned. Then before she could turn off the fire pit he had already jumped off it, fought his way through the spinning posts and out of the training hall. The air was silent as everyone stared at the door Vish had slammed open in his escape before the rest of the five turned to Viper for an explanation. She shrugged having no idea why he had just bolted, she had been burned before and she knew it hurt but not enough to warrant that kind of reaction. "I don't know he was doing just fine then he got burned before bolting."

"What should we do?" Po asked still confused as to what happened.

"I'll take care of it I know him best even if it's not by much." Viper said as she turned off the pit before slithering through the doors the mamba had gone through. Once she was out of the training hall she saw that the doors to the courtyard were open as well. She decided to check the barracks first since he was probably trying to use water on his burn. A few minutes later she found him at the showers. "Vish."

Vish stood there washing his tail in cold water which had begun to hurt less some time ago. This went unnoticed to him however as despite being in the building his mind was somewhere else. The minute the adrenaline from being burned wore off the visions had come back in full force. He saw fire everywhere, he could still smell the smoke that was in the air that day and then he heard the scream. Oh, goodness did that shake him to his core, it had been so long since he had heard it and it still haunted him. The visions began to come to a head with him seeing her oh why did he have to relive this. Then as the vision began to get clearer he was pulled from the visions by a female voice behind him. Turning he saw that it was Viper. How long had she been there?

Viper was already worried by Vish's reaction to being burned and once she saw his condition after he turned around she was downright horrified. She could see and hear his deep breaths as he struggled to breath and his eyes showed that he was horrified. She wondered if he was crying though she couldn't tell because of the shower. Calming herself she resolved to find out why Vish was acting like this.

Hissing to him she asked him why he was acting like this. He simply replied that it was nothing and not to worry about it which both irritated and worried her. What was he keeping from her that would frighten him this way? She hissed back that she didn't believe him and that he should tell her. Then his gaze hardened and he advanced on her forcing her to back up into the wall. For a moment, he stared her down and she was reminded of why Black Mambas were so feared. Then he spoke two words that were said with such force she didn't dare continue her interrogation, "Drop It." With that he turned off the water before leaving.

Viper sat there for a few minutes still shocked by Vish's sudden aggressiveness. The only other time she had seen him like that was when they first encountered him. Peeling herself off the wall she slithered to the kitchen where the others were waiting.

"So, did you find out why he reacted that way?" Crane asked.

She shook her head before answering his question, "No and he got very defensive when I asked him." She intentionally left out the details so that Vish wouldn't get in trouble with the others.

"We figured that was the case." Tigress said, "We saw him head to his room a few minutes ago, and he didn't seem happy."

"I just don't know why he's acting like this. When I found him, his face was full of fear and he was breathing hard." Viper explained.

"Hmm maybe he got burned when he was younger or maybe it's his pride that's making him act this way." Crane offered.

"Crane could be right; from what I've seen of him he has a lot of pride in himself just like I do. Maybe when he got burned he got embarrassed and his pride is reacting to that?" Tigress put in.

"You may be right about his pride being a factor but that still wouldn't explain him freezing on the fire pit or his fear when I found him. There must be something we're missing. Even if he had a bad experience with fire in his past then why did he get on the fire pit without telling me about it?" Viper replied.

"Maybe that's where his pride comes in. If he didn't want, you to see him as a coward he would still get up there despite his fears." Tigress told her.

"You're right but how do we get him to tell us what happened? I know it's probably personal but it always helps to talk to someone about it. He probably didn't have very many people to talk to so he's probably been keeping it in all this time." Viper asked.

"Oh, I know I'll just annoy him until he tells us." Po said getting up from the table with a smile.

"No Po we'd prefer you alive." Viper said stopping him with her tail.

"But that's the only idea I've got." The panda wined sitting back down.

"I think we should just leave it be." Tigress said gaining everyone's attention, "If he doesn't want to tell us then we should respect that. He's asked nothing of us so we shouldn't ask anything of him." With that she got up and left the room.

"I think she's right Viper. We can't force it out of him we have to wait." Crane said.

Viper sighed, "You're right. I just wanna help him. I don't like seeing others in pain."

Monkey laughed at this, "That's pretty ironic considering our job description is punching and kicking people."

"Sadly, he's right." Crane said.

A few days passed after Vish's incident on the fire pit. Viper tried to get Vish to open up to no avail. Not very many words had been exchanged between them though Vish had come to apologize for his behavior earlier and she had forgiven him. After that though he had become like a clam only coming out of his room for food and training except for the fire pit of course. Po despite what the others had told him decided to take a crack at getting Vish to spill his secret. It didn't end well.

Po in an unusual display of willpower woke up around the time Vish did and followed him to his sun bathing spot in the courtyard. Vish who was just starting to get comfortable suddenly felt something blocking his access to the warm rays of the sun. Hissing in irritation he opened his eye to see Po standing there wearing a creepy smile, "What?"

"I wanna ask you a few questions Vish." Po said putting on a serious face. Vish wanting to get back to his sunbathing gestured for him to continue.

"The others and I have been talking and we'd like to know what secret you're hiding. So, what is it?"

"Drop it." Vish hissed not in the mood to deal with this.

"No I will not. So please tell me."

"No."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Come on I can do this for ever. I managed to break Crane so I think I can break you. Besides is this really how you wanna spend the rest of your life?" Po asked smiling while locking eyes with Vish.

Vish stared back before moving his tail around the panda's legs and pulling sending him to the ground with a thud. Po watched as Vish's eyes bore deep into his skull, "Drop it." With that Vish pulled hard with his tail and sent Po flying out of the courtyard and bouncing down the stairs. By the time, Po got back up Vish was gone and everyone was already up and training.

Now everyone was in the training hall doing their usual training regiments. Po was sparing with Tigress on the spinning logs, Mantis was training with the spinning posts, Crane and Monkey were training on the Jade Tortoise of wisdom, finally Viper was on the fire pit while Vish was sparing with a training dummy.

Viper had just gotten done with her latest run through on the fire pit, she caught her breath before she went to check on Vish. She was shocked to see the amount of brutality he was dishing out on the dummy. She knew he was still angry about the fire pit incident and she had heard about what Po had done earlier, but this type of brutality was akin to Tigress's level. He would first sweep the dummy into the air before jumping and slamming it into the ground, like her and Po's first sparring match, then as it bounced back up from the impact he would slap it upright with his tail before coming around the others side with a throat jab, then as the dummy started to fall he would change sides and do it again. She watched him do this for a few minutes at times he would mix up his moves throwing in a few hits to the stomach, arms and legs. Despite his brutality, she could see that he was still holding back as the dummy was still intact. She still worried for him though, what could he have happened to him in the past that would cause his behavior to shift this drastically after remembering it?

A loud gong sounded signaling the end of the training session, all the masters began to make their way out of the training hall, all except Vish who was putting away the dummy and Viper who was watching him. Once he had put it away she joined him as they slithered back to the barracks only to be stopped by Master Shifu who was waiting for them outside the training hall.

"Hello, Master." Viper bowed with Vish joining her.

"Greetings to both of you." Shifu replied. Then he turned his gaze to Vish, "I have heard that you have been making great progress mamba. This is most impressive given that you said you have had no previous training. It is not unheard of though given that Po has gotten so far."

"Thank you." Vish replied once Viper had translated it for him.

"Hmm it is good to see that your language skills have also improved. On that note I am here to inform you that I have found an artifact that will allow us to communicate with you better." Shifu said stroking his chin.

"You have?" Viper asked in shock.

Shifu pulled a scroll out from his robe before unrolling it, "After searching through the archives I was able to find a scroll about the Amulet of Clarity. It grants the wearer the ability to both speak and hear any language. Though if there is no translation for a word from their language they still won't understand it."

"That's amazing." She exclaimed looking around for an amulet thinking Shifu had in on him, "Um where is it?"

"The amulet of hidden deep within the Jade Palace, to reach it you must traverse the Maze of Deception." Viper flinched at the name, "Viper you will accompany Vish to collect the amulet but be wary there are very unpleasant things in that maze. When you are ready you may enter." With that he left them to go meditate.

Viper turned to Vish, "So when do you wanna go?"

Vish thought about it for a second, he wanted to go now and get this amulet so that he could speak to the others, but Shifu had also said it was dangerous plus Viper and he were tired from their training, "After dinner."

"Ok then. What are we gonna do until then?" She asked understanding his logic.

"Sleep." He said simply before he headed to the barracks.

Viper watched him go before heading to the scroll room to find out more about the Maze of Deception. She had heard about it a little bit but it always helped to be prepared.

A few hours later Viper and Vish stood at the entrance to the catacombs. Viper looked at Vish to see if he was scared or not only to see his face as stoic as ever. Great he was becoming more and more like Tigress. Knowing what lay down there and not wanting to be here for too long herself she slithered into the catacombs with Vish following. They traveled in silence passing room after room some filled with common items like pots while others were filled with hats, there was even a room that was overflowing with candles. Eventually they came across a staircase that led down, following it they came to a doorway with no door. The two shared a glance before slithering through it, once they were through they heard a rumbling. Turning around they saw that a stone slab had risen in front of the entrance. "Great guess we're in the maze." Viper hissed and Vish nodded. Knowing that they couldn't get through the slab they continued on.

Now that they were in the maze they found that it was much darker than the catacombs with the pair only being able to see about five feet in front of them. They traversed the maze for what felt like hours till they came to a dead-end. Hissing in irritation they turned around but then they froze. In front of them was a giant amber-colored spider, it stood at just over six feet and was covered in a bulky armored exoskeleton. It stared at them looking just as confused as they were. Viper cautiously moved forward until the spider clicked its mandibles together making a booming clicking sound. She froze as it slowly began to advance on her before stopping and raising itself up. Vish reached forward and pulled her back just as its fangs punctured the ground where she had been.

Snapped out of her daze she rushed forward and began to attack the spider with Vish while its guard was down. They swept its front legs out from under it before jumping up and slamming their tails down on its head. However, once they tried another attack they were stopped by the spider's frontal legs which blocked their attack and sent them back. Now angry the spider clicked its mandibles even louder before charging at them jumping up Vish managed to dodge its attack but Viper ended up getting knocked into the wall by the spider's legs. The spider itself ended up slamming into the dead end with a loud thud. Still not happy with them it pulled itself off the ground before facing them. Seeing that Viper was still recovering it ran at her intent on injecting her with its venom. Vish saw this and moved to interfere only to be smacked to the side by the spider's bulk.

Vish watched helpless at it got closer to Viper. How could he beat this thing? It was too big and its exoskeleton was impenetrable. Then he saw its four small eyes, and then it hit him those must be its weak point. Looking around he saw a torch on the wall, jumping up he grabbed it, a few of the visions came through but they went away as he held it behind him. Now that he had the torch he rushed towards the spider.

Viper opened her eyes and looked up to see the giant spider almost upon her. She watched in shock as it rose once more preparing to bite her. Before it could do that though she saw Vish jump above it and throw a lit torch into its eyes. The spider reared back in agony flipping itself over, it struggled to get back up before finally righting itself. However, its eyes still burned making it bash its head into the wall to get rid of the pain. Then there was a loud thud as it knocked itself out and crumpled to the floor.

Viper sighed in relief as the giant arachnid finally went down. Getting up she slithered over to Vish who was checking to make sure it was knocked out. Looking at her he asked if she was ok and she simply nodded. Then she saw him flex his fangs as he prepared to inject it with his venom. He was about to strike but she got in front of him and used her tail to hold him back, "No. It's knocked out, we don't need to kill it, it was just doing its job." Vish's eyes bore into her before he nodded and turned around.

"Need to leave." He said and she agreed as they slither away. If they were lucky they would never have to see it again. They continued through the maze until they found another dead end turning around they tried another way only to find another dead end however this one had a table. Confused the pair slithered towards it to see it had three cups on it that were connected to the wall by string. Next to the cups was a small piece of paper, picking it up Viper read it, _A shortcut you have found but be warned it may put you in the ground._ Viper gulped at this, _Riddles three you must pass, two are required but miss one and it is you who we will smash. Start with one, you cannot leave until you have won._

"Should we?" She asked after telling him what it said.

"Yes." He nodded. They didn't want to run into another creature like the spider and if they did he didn't think he could defeat it since they had barely won against the spider.

"Ok it says, _A murder is condemned to death he has to face his death in three rooms. Which one of these rooms can he enter and still come out alive?_

 _A room full of fire_

 _A room with 100 assassins carrying loaded crossbows_

 _A room full of creatures that haven't eaten in 3 years._

Before she could even think about it Vish had pulled the third cup. The wall rumbled before moving backwards a few feet. It had worked but she was still mad at him for doing it without consulting her, "Why did you do that!?"

Vish gave her a look of confusion before hissing to her it was obvious, no creature could survive three years without eating. "Still you should have told me first." Vish rolled his eyes before nodding to her.

"Riddle two, _This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;_ _Gnaws iron, bites steel;_ _Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays kings, ruins towns, conquers empires,_ _And beats high mountain down. What am I?_

 _Fire_

 _Water_

 _-me_

"Hmm it seems like this last one has faded with time. What do you think Vish?"

"Not fire. Not burn mountain." He replied.

"Hmm then that just leaves water and whatever ends in me." She thought about it for a few minutes. Water was very powerful and she had yet to see something it couldn't kill; the yellow river had almost collapsed the empire a few times in the past and being swallowed by water could be devouring. Besides she didn't know many words that ended with 'me' that could be the answer. "I think it is water."

Vish agreed with her but still he pointed to the last choice. She shook her head and explained why. Nodding his agreement, he pulled the second cup. They heard rumbling but this time it wasn't the wall, looking up they saw the ceiling had fallen to just above their heads and then behind them they saw that the path was blocked.

"Urgh how was that wrong? I guess that last one must have been correct." She vented for a minute before picking the paper back up, "Ok riddle three, _Of noble birth yet I lie in the dirt, like a bird I fly but I have no feathers, like a newborn child I stand on four legs, like a scorpion's venom I burn my enemies. What am I?_

 _A king_

 _A lion_

 _..a.-n_

"Great the last one is unreadable again." The two sat their thinking hard about the riddle both knowing that if they answered wrong they would die. But what could it be? Only birds could fly, birds didn't have more than two legs though, and she knew nothing that could fly had venom. Then Viper though about the choices they were given she knew a lion couldn't do any of those things. What about a king? A king could use a servant that was a bird to fly, he could also walk on four legs if depending on the species and he could use fire which could burn. She told Vish her reasons and was about to reach for the first cup when they heard a loud click. Spinning around they checked to see that they were still boxed in before they heard it again and this time it was closer. Then she looked at Vish and saw that his small hood was out and then she remembered, "Fu-Xi."

"What?" Vish hissed confused.

Viper didn't hear his question though looking back at the third choice she thought about it over and over in her mind before pulling on the third cup. There was a loud rumbling as the wall in front of them moved back all the way revealing another path way. Then they heard the clicking noise. Turning around they saw that the ceiling and wall behind them had returned to normal and that at the other end was the amber-colored spider. Spotting them it reared back on its hind legs before charging at them. Thinking fast she grabbed Vish and pulled him through the path way. Once they were through the wall began to close once more, looking back she saw the spider almost upon them. Then the wall secured itself back in place and they heard a thud as the spider hit the wall once more.

Catching her breath, she turned around to see Vish giving her a glare. Figuring he wanted an explanation for her choice she told him why she chose the last one.

Vish listened as she told him about a Cobra named Fu-Xi who had come to the valley some time ago and caused trouble. He had once been a great hero who was a descendant of the dragon gods. She also told him about Ke-Pa who was a demon in the form of a dragon. He nodded his understanding but voiced his disbelief that someone like Po had defeated a dragon and a snake. She told him that he didn't do it alone which helped him believe it.

They slithered along for a while until they came to the center of the maze. There was a set of steps that led up to a pedestal that was surrounded by five torches. Slithering up the stairs they saw that the pedestal held a book and behind it was a post with a necklace around it. "That must be the amulet!" Viper exclaimed before slithering over to it. She was stopped however when Vish held her back and pointed to the book. Vish's cautious nature made him think that this was too easy, he also remembered the scroll from before that told him what was going to happen. "Hmm you think we should look at the book first?" He nodded.

"Ok then it probably gives more information about the amulet." Slithering over to the book Viper saw that there was a note on it. Squinting she began to read each of the words out loud so that she could pronounce them correctly. "It says to obtain the Amulet of Clarity you must first be clear of mind. If you are not your body will be what becomes clear." Looking up from the note she saw Vish bow his head and clear his mind before nodding to her. Smiling she followed him over to the amulet.

Stopping to clear her own mind she picked the amulet up and began to lower it onto Vish's neck. Vish watched her do this his curiosity making it hard to keep a clear head, then he saw an ember fall from one of the torches. He tried to keep his mind clear he really did but the thought of that day just popped into his mind. Then he heard Viper gasp, looking up he saw the amulet tear itself from her grasp and return to the post. She looked at him in shock then the pair noticed the world around them get brighter. Looking up he saw that the fire on the torches was getting bigger and bigger with each passing second. Vish's eyes widened in realization and moved to shield her but he was too late. Just as the she was the word what left her mouth the world seemed to explode.

Vish groaned as he picked himself off the ground, looking up he saw scorch marks everywhere yet the book and post as well as the amulet were untouched. Looking to his right he saw Viper rising from the ground as well. Slithering over to her he saw that the scorch marks seemed to be connected and they seemed to be shaped like curves. As he was just about to reach her he felt the earth began to shake knocking him off balance. When he regained his balance, he looked up and his body froze. Where the scorch marks had been now stood, a giant serpent covered head to toe in flames and it was coiled around Viper though not close enough to burn her. That wasn't the worst part though looking up into its eyes he saw that they were a light shade of amber. They were her eyes. But how!? She was dead and it had happened back in his world so how could she be here!?

Viper stood in horror as the enormous flame covered snake coiled one of its coils around her almost daring her to try to escape. Looking over at Vish she saw him in a state like how she had found him in the shower rooms. Of all the times for him to freeze up now was the worst time for it to happen. Also, where had this thing come from anyway? The last thing that happened was her putting the necklace on Vish. Then she figured it out, he must have been thinking about something and it caused all of this! Hissing she decided to get onto him about it later if there was one right now Vish needed her help, "Vish! Vish snap out of it!"

Vish continued to stand there frozen in an almost fear like state, then he began to hear Viper calling out to him. Blinking the visions from his eyes and shaking his head when he opened his eyes however he was met with a fiery tail slamming into him knocking him back. The fire serpent had grown bored of watching him stand there and had decided to go on the attack. Picking himself up Vish saw another tail swipe heading towards him, jumping over it he rushed towards where the snake held Viper to free her. Seeing what he was doing the serpent brought its tail back and grabbed him before flicking it to the side sending him down the stairs and to the labyrinth floor.

Groaning he picked himself up ready to rush back up the stairs, however as he looked up he saw an amber underbelly. Thinking fast he rolled to the side as a pair of fangs punctured where he had been. Hissing in irritation he saw that his attacker was the amber spider from earlier. This thing really holds a grudge doesn't it he thought. Getting back into the fight Vish dodged a swipe by one of the spider's front legs. Then he had an idea, if he could get the spider to fight or at least distract the fiery serpent maybe he could save Viper. Enacting his plan, he jumped up and performed a pair of tail slaps on the spider's head before rushing up the steps he had been thrown down. Hearing loud thuds behind him he smirked as the spider was now following him.

Reaching the top of the stairs he saw that the serpent was waiting for him. Looking back down the stairs he saw that spider was almost upon him thinking fast he taunted the serpent with his tail. Hissing angrily the serpent moved its coils before striking at him mouth wide open. Vish sighed before counting to ten,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10! On ten he jumped as high as he could. Looking down he saw the serpent's eyes look up in shock before its head was thrown back as the spider finally reached the top. The spider clicked in shock as it saw the fire serpent that it had just slammed into.

Seeing his chance Vish rushed towards where Viper was held. Jumping over the coil that held her he reached his tail down and grabbed her before pulling her out. They hit the ground hard but neither was injured. Looking back towards the giant creatures he saw the spider's shock had worn off and it was now rushing towards them. It got to within ten feet before it was knocked to the side by a tail of flames. Looking to where it began he saw that the serpent had recovered and was now taking its anger out on the spider. The serpent chased the spider around till the spider made a fatal mistake. As it put one of its legs down it was also making a turn to avoid a bite from the serpent resulting in the arachnid tripping over itself. The amber creature looked up for the last time to see the serpent strike down at it consuming it in flames.

The pair of smaller serpents watched as the adversary that had been chasing them since the had entered the maze be turned into nothing but ash. They began to slither backwards as the victor of the clash turn its attention back to them. Vish looked over to Viper who stood frozen in fear just as he had been minutes before. Narrowing his eyes Vish slithered back to the Amulet of Clarity, it was his fault that this had happened in the first place and now he had to fix it. Reaching for the amulet he felt it beginning to resist him, no he would not be denied, he would not lose another being to fire. Clearing his head and zoning out everything around him he grabbed the amulet before putting it on. Turning around he saw the serpent striking towards him but he stood his ground. As it reached him it went straight through him before fading away into embers, the embers then rose and re-lit the torches.

Viper watched as Vish stood there silent as the grave before she saw his eyes begin to moisten. Tears began to fall from his eyes nearly covering his face though no sound was made. Slithering over she moved to comfort him until he spoke, "My sister died in a fire."

Viper's mouth opened in shock, "What?"

"You wanted to know why I was acting this way before. Right? After all I've put you through I guess you deserve to know." Viper couldn't find it in herself to speak and so merely nodded.

Vish sighed, "About four years ago, I met a little amber eyed reticulated python named Nireeh ( _Innocent_ ), she had hatched late and so her family left her. I took her in as my adopted sister and raised her in the ways of the snake. It was one of the best times of my life, I was able to pass my knowledge on to the next generation and for the first time in a while I had a companion, we had such fun together." She watched as he smiled happily remembering those times, then his smile faded, "Unfortunately nothing lasts forever. One day about a year after I met her a pair of juvenile two leggers came into the forest with their strange equipment. We left them alone as I didn't want her to get hurt and at the time they weren't doing anything to us." Vish turned to the side breaking eye contact with her, "I should have killed them the minute I saw them."

Viper gasped in shock. She had only heard of villains talk about killing so casually. Then he turned back to her, "Sometime in the night when Nireeh and I were asleep I began to smell smoke, when I opened my eyes I saw the forest was ablaze. I quickly woke Nireeh up and we left our tree to escape the fire. We slithered as fast as we could but the fire seemed to be everywhere, eventually I saw a part of the forest that was not yet ablaze and we made our way towards it. We had almost reached it when a large tree branch fell and trapped my sister. I quickly turned back to save her but no matter how hard I tried the branch wouldn't move. By this time the fire had caught up to us and it was beginning to reach the branch she was under." He turned away from her again, "My survival instincts kicked in and like a coward I left her there to die. After a few hours, the two leggers arrived and managed to put out the fire. After it was out I went back to look for her with the hope that she was alive. When I found the branch, it was so charred that I could take most of it apart and finally get it off her. What I saw still haunts me to this day. I stayed there for the longest time before I took her bones and buried them in a burrow where they wouldn't be disturbed." Now he was shaking like it was below zero in here.

"H-how do you know it was the two leggers who caused the fire?" Viper choked out now openly crying at hearing the fate of his beloved sister.

At her question Vish locked his gaze on her once more, "When I went to the area that those two leggers used I saw that it was burned more than any other part of the forest and the little place that I saw them burning wood was still burning. I don't know much of fire by I know enough to tell where it starts. There was not lighting strike and it wasn't dry enough for a fire to just happen naturally. No, it was those two, two leggers and you know what?"

"W-what?" She asked.

"Those two leggers got off scot-free, they weren't burned in their own fire like all the innocent plants and animals that died that night. Where's the justice in that? Where's the justice for my little sister!?"

"I can't tell you. All I know is that you can't take a life just because you lost someone." Viper told him. Vish stared at her in shock before turning away from her. Viper watched him for a few seconds before putting her tail around him, he flinched at first before leaning into it and putting his tail around her both giving each other the comfort they needed. Viper sat there thinking about what she had learned about Vish. She understood now why he had kept that secret from her and why he had acted the way he did. Despite what it took for him to trust her with this secret she was glad that he did. She now saw that he wasn't brutal and scary because of his species, but because of what had happened to him in the past and she was certain this wasn't the only tragic thing that had happened to him. She made it her mission to help him and to be there for him when things like this happened.

They sat there in each other's embrace for a good hour or so before Vish finally pulled away from her, "Thank you."

"Of course, I would do it for any of my friends." She told him.

"Humph I haven't had friends in a long time. Despite the time I've spent with the five and Po I still consider most of them as acquaintances. You do realize that this doesn't change anything, right? I still intend to act the way I always have and I still intend to return to my own world one day." He said looking her in the eye.

She felt a slight pang of pain at his declaration before nodding, "I understand and I promise to keep your secret safe."

"Good now I don't have to kill anyone you tell and for that I'll let you ask one question before we get out of here. After that I guess you can ask whatever questions you want but know that I won't answer all of them."

Viper nodded in agreement anxious to get out of here as she had so many questions for him, "Ok then. Um how old are you?"

"Forty-eight seasons." He told her before slithering away.

She was shocked at this. Catching up to him she asked another question, "You're only twelve years old? How? You look like you're older then I am by at least a year or two."

I knew this would happen he sighed, "In my world snakes like me only live to about twenty years in very rare cases. As for why I look older then you let me ask how old are you?"

"Twenty-six." She stated.

"Twenty-six seasons?" He asked incredibly.

"No, I'm twenty-six years old. In terms of seasons I'm ninety-two seasons old."

"Hmm then I have no idea why. Maybe coming from my world to yours doubled my age or something plus give or take about twelve seasons." He said with a shrug. "Now come on I'd like to get back before the sun rises."

Giggling at his reaction she followed him. It would take them a few hours but they eventually got out of the catacombs and back to the barracks about an hour before sunrise. Luckily Master Shifu had given them the morning off.

 **What did you think? I think I did pretty good but I know I could have done better. Next chapter should be up in two weeks as I have a lot of stuff to do. Take care and if it's not to much trouble leave a review if you want.**


	7. The day after

**_Well come all to chapter seven of Mamba out of place. I wanna thank all of you who have followed or favorited me and thanks to those who have read this far. This chapter has less action then the last one and is mostly just to show some development between Vish, Po and the Five. Without further ado I'll let you guys read._**

 _What have I gotten myself into?_ Vish thought as Viper continued to ask question after question. He had told her she could ask whatever questions she wanted but he had never thought she'd ask this many questions. It had been about ten hours since him and Viper had gotten back from the catacombs and now they were in the kitchen eating a late lunch.

Viper could see that her questions were starting to get a bit excessive so she decided to only ask a few more. She had been curious about his fighting style as it was different compared to hers yet still retained some basic forms, "How did you learn Kung-Fu Vish? You said you've never had any formal training so how did you learn?"

Learn? Hmm when had he learned Kung-Fu? Oh, yes now he remembered, "About five years ago, I was exploring around the forest when I came across a wooden house on the outskirts of a village. While looking around the house I came across an elderly male two legger who was practicing Kung-Fu, I watched in awe as he threw punches and kicks but in a controlled manner. When he was finished, I slithered away so he wouldn't see me. I went back to watch him for the next two weeks until one day I decided to try it for myself."

"How did it go?" Viper asked engrossed in the story.

"I ended up losing my balance and falling over." He answered simply. Viper giggled at the thought of him trying to do Kung-Fu only to fall over on his first try. "Yeah, yeah laugh it up. In my world, you wouldn't be able to do any of your moves, snakes in my world can't control their bodies as well as in your world."

Viper nodded in understanding, "So what happened next?"

"When I picked myself off the ground I found that the man was only ten feet from me and he was smiling. I hissed at him to stay back and he did. He spoke though I couldn't understand what he said, I think he was asking if I was alright though. After this he pointed at my eyes then pointed at himself. Then he went back to doing Kung-Fu but only slower so that I could follow the moves better. This went on for a few days and I began to improve though most of the time I ended up with my snout in the mud. I grew to care for him as a friend, and I think he felt the same. Then one day about five months after I met him I went to his house and he wasn't there, I waited for him but he never showed. I went back multiple times over the next month but he was never there. The last time I went to check I found two new two leggers in his yard and with that I knew what happened. He had left the forest and he was never coming back."

Viper looked at him sadly knowing what it felt like to lose a master. She wanted to let him know that she understood his grief but then he began to speak again.

"A few weeks later I found, Nireeh." At this he turned away and wiped the moisture from his eyes, "After the incident I was very lonely until one day I saw a group of two leggers practicing Kung-Fu. Seeing that reminded me of my master and so I began to practice once more. However, I soon came to realize that the two leggers style would never work for me as they had four limbs and I had only my tail and head, so I set out to find my own style. I traveled for a while until one day I was up on a mountain, looking down I saw a river. I watched as it flowed in curves before becoming straight. While I was watching it, my body began to sway from side to side and that was when I realized that this would be my style." To emphasize he swayed from side to side for he making her giggle, "I followed that river until it came to a waterfall, I was amazed by how powerful water could be. I stayed in that area for a good amount of time perfecting my style." Then he chuckled which earned him an odd look from Viper, "Sorry, I just remembered one of the times my style saved my life. One day I was practicing when an eagle decided it wanted me as a snack, it flew towards me talons outstretched and I knew I could never outrun it. So, what did I do? I swayed from side to side just like a river then when it got close I dropped down. The eagle had been so confident it would get me that he left no time to turn away when I dodged and so he smacked into the tree behind me. I was confident until he got back up at which point I bolted."

"So why did you choose water to be your style?" Viper asked interested to know how seeing a river and waterfall made him choose that as his style.

"Have you ever seen a river or a waterfall Viper?" He asked back.

"Yes, of course I have." She answered confused.

Vish sighed seeing that she wasn't understanding, "Alright then follow me." Slithering out of the kitchen they slithered over to the courtyard where they set up a training dummy, "Alright now watch." He raised began to sway side to side once more, "Like a river I move from side to side, in our sparring match you tried to hit me when I was doing this and you missed every time. You see a river flows from side to side because that is the way of least resistance, it could and has the power to just flow straight through the land but it chooses not to. I simply took this to heart and implemented it into my style, now as you also saw in our match I sometimes must block and dodge just like everyone else does so it isn't perfect but it works for me. You understand?" He asked her and she nodded, "Now as for how I implemented the power of a waterfall into my style it's a bit more complicated. As I said before, water follows the path of least resistance but sometimes it can't do this so it uses its power to flow straight but you can never know when this will happen. I use this in my style by letting my foes either make mistakes or tire themselves then like an unexpected waterfall I strike!" Striking his tail out he hit the dummy right in the head sending it backwards and into the wall. "It also helps that I'm an ambush hunter which means I have to be cautious and wait for my prey before striking with lightning speed and power."

"You adapted your own style just by watching water and using your instincts? That's amazing!" Viper exclaimed.

Vish blushed at her praise, "Thanks."

"So, do you think you could teach me?" Viper asked.

"What?" Vish asked confused.

"Could you teach me how to perform your style?" She clarified.

Vish thought about it for a few minutes before giving her an answer, "It couldn't hurt to teach you I guess. You have been training me so I guess it would only be fair to return the favor. But not now we'd need to get to a river so that you could understand the style better and now I can't leave the palace. It might also be good to wait until I learn more Kung-Fu from you so that I can better understand your style and how to teach you." Then he mumbled under his breath, "It's also gonna be almost impossible given I haven't seen you act like a snake the entire time I've known you."

"What?" She asked

"Oh nothing." He said quickly.

"So, what do you wanna do?" She asked not completely convinced.

"I don't know. Usually I'd just sleep the day away if I couldn't practice Kung-Fu." Vish shrugged putting the training dummy away.

"Hmm would you like to play checkers?" She suggested.

"What is that?" He asked confused.

Viper was about to tell him it was a board game but she figured he didn't know what that was either, "Come on I'll show you."

When they got back to the barracks they went to Vish's room. He waited for a few minutes until Viper entered with a small table with no legs which she told him was a board and little black and red rocks. Vish watched as she set the rocks on the board which he saw had squares on it.

"Ok Vish, the way you play this is by capturing all of your opponent's pieces. You can only move diagonally and can only move one space at a time, once you get to the other side your pieces become kings. If your opponent has two pieces' diagonal to yours but separated by a space, you can double jump them also you can only move forwards." With every direction, she showed him how it was done on the board, "Any questions?"

"Um what's the point of this again?" He asked.

"It's just to have fun." She smiled.

"Ok then." He said not totally convinced that this would be fun.

They played checkers for a few hours with Viper winning most of the games they played due to Vish's inexperience though he was able to win one of the games after Viper made a mistake. He did have to eat his words however as playing it with her was fun.

Now they were back in the kitchen with Viper showing Vish how to cook, "Now just keep stirring that soup, Vish, while I get some bowls." She told him slithering over to the cupboard to get them. The others had gone chasing after bandits while they were playing checkers and when they returned they would be hungry. Grabbing the bowls, she moved back over to Vish who was smelling the soup. "Smell good?"

Looking over at her he shrugged, "Smells edible."

"Just edible?" She frowned confused.

"Yes." He told her.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked.

"No" He said.

"Why is it just edible then?" At this he stopped stirring.

Vish sighed he really didn't wanna have this conversation. He knew what she was getting at and he knew she wouldn't like his answer, "It's just not like what I used to eat." He turned back to the soup and began to stir it once more.

"Well what did you used to eat then? Maybe we can get some for you next time we shop." She offered with a smile.

"I don't think you'll be able to find it." He said with a chuckle.

"Why and why are you making this so difficult?" She asked her frown deepening.

"I used to eat mice. Live mice, birds, small insects and frogs. Oh, how I miss the taste of frog." He told her fed up with her pushing.

"Oh." She said shocked. So, this was why he didn't wanna talk about it. He probably already figured out that he couldn't eat them here without getting into trouble, "I'm sorry I asked."

"Yeah I figured you'd react like that." He said unfazed.

"So, do all snakes eat stuff like that?" She shivered just thinking about it.

"Yes, though pythons can consume prey as big as an antelope."

Viper was shocked, "Can they move after doing that?"

"Yes, though not much. Please don't tell me you've never swallowed something bigger than dumpling." He said eyeing her.

"Well I once had to swallow Master Shifu's dragon chalice." She replied.

"Was that your first time?" He asked.

"No but I hadn't done it for a while." She said looking away.

"Did you enjoy it?" He asked hopefully.

"A little bit, but it felt weird having something so large in my body."

"Everyone's first time is weird no matter what they say. But once you get used to it you start to enjoy it and you should it's how nature intended us to eat. To take our prey, swallow it and feel it slide down our throat. Truly there is no greater way for us to eat." As he turned back to her she looked like she was going to be sick. Rolling his eyes, he turned back to the soup. She'd been around two leggers for too long.

A few minutes later the rest of the five entered the room and sat down for dinner. Vish began to scoop the soup into the bowls while Viper took them over to the others. When everyone was served, they got their bowls and sat down.

"This is good soup guys." Po compliment. They were about to thank him when he spoke again, "Needs a bit more salt though."

"Um thanks ,Po." She told him.

"No problem!" He replied before he began to eat once more.

The group ate in silence for a few minutes with Po getting up to get seconds before anyone was halfway through their first bowl. Viper took a spoonful of noodles and swallowed before going back for more, however she happened to look over and see that Vish had eaten all his soup but hadn't eaten any of his noodles. Confused she put down her spoon and turned to him, "Is something wrong Vish?"

He looked over at her and was about to answer when he saw everyone else was watching them. _Great,_ He thought. He wondered if he should tell her why for a few moments before deciding against it, he had already grossed her out once and he really didn't wanna see her or any of the others throw up, "I don't like noodles."

At those four words, there were two thumps, one from a bowl being dropped and one from a three-hundred-pound panda hitting the floor. Everyone stared in shock at both Vish and Po. Vish hissed in irritation putting his tail to his temples before grabbing his bowl of noodles and holding it over the bear's nose. Within moments Po's nose began to twitch before his head began to lean up trying to get to the noodles. Seeing that Po wasn't awake and grossed out by what had just happened Vish smashed the bowl into the panda's face eliciting an ow from the him. Po sat up slurping the noodles down before opening his eyes to see Vish trying to hold his dinner down.

Grabbing his head Po turned to the others, "Urgh what happened."

Monkey was happy to fill him in being the first of the group to snap out of his shock, "You fainted after Vish said he didn't like noodles."

"What!?" Po yelled before his eyes rolled up once more and his body began to fall back once more.

He was stopped by a Vish who grabbed him with his tail and pulled him to his feet before grabbing a glass of water and throwing it into the panda's face, "Oh no you don't!"

This time Po remembered what had happened, "Sorry I'm just can't believe that someone doesn't like noodles! What don't you like about them they're so good!?" The panda looked at the mamba pleadingly.

"Well I don't so get over it. Besides more noodles for you." Vish rolled his eyes at the panda's reaction before going over to the sink to wash his bowl.

"Well can you at least tell us why?" Crane asked just as curious as the others.

"Come on Vish it can't be that bad." Viper urged. She really wanted him to trust the others as well as her and sharing secrets like the one he had shared with her the night before was one of the best ways to start.

Vish however wasn't swayed by either of them even if it was Viper. Truthfully, she was one of the main reasons for why he wasn't telling them, "No."

"Come on is it the texture or are they too big? Please give us something!" Po begged.

Vish cringed at the word texture. _How the heck do I get them off my back?_ Vish wondered as he cleaned his dish. Then he remembered Viper's part of his plan to get back at Monkey. It could work but it could come to bite me in the back later he told himself. He weighed the options between lying to them and seeing them empty their stomachs. Eventually the first one won out, "Remember what Viper said about me being allergic to certain things?"

"Yeah she said that hot sauce was allergic to you." Monkey said cringing at the memory. He really thought he was gonna be sent to prison.

"Well as you know she lied, however noodles are something I am allergic to. The soup is fine but I just can't have noodles." He really hoped they bought it.

"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" Mantis asked like it nothing.

"Didn't know how you guys would react." Then he gestured to Po who had started crying, "Given his reaction I think I was justified in keeping it from you."

"Guess you're right." Viper nodded satisfied with his answer.

Vish sighed inwardly as the others accepted his excuse. He never thought they'd go for it. Then he saw Tigress's eyes were locked on him. Of course, he knew he'd never get anything past her, but she seemed to figure it wasn't worth informing the others.

Dinner passed quickly with things returning to normal. When everyone was finished Vish took their bowls and began to clean up. Once he was finished he turned around to see that the others had left. Slithering to his room he was stopped when Tigress opened the doors to her room, "So what was that about?"

"What was what?" He asked rolling his eyes. He hated when people didn't get straight to the point. True he did it at times but he loathed when others did it to him.

She seemed to catch on to his sarcasm, "Why do you really not like noodles?" Her expression was hard and unmoving.

Vish sighed before slithering to his room, "You ever eaten another tiger before?" He got a cruel sense of pleasure from seeing her cringe. He loved seeing stoic people lose their focus. However, she quickly regained her stoic expression.

"No." She told him flatly.

"Ever seen anyone else eat a tiger?" Her stoic expression was broken again but this time it remained relatively intact.

"No." She told him once more.

"Now tell me what a noodle looks like." He told her with a cruel smile before slithering halfway into his room.

"It looks like string." She told him confused. Where was, he going with this?

"Or it could look like a…" He told her leaving the last word for her to figure out before shutting his door.

Tigress was about to follow him but then the gears in her brain started to turn. "A snake." Realization hit her like a punch in the gut and she struggled to hold her dinner down. She took a step backwards before she leaning over and putting her paws to her mouth to keep herself from heaving. She was silent for a few minutes before she stood back up.

"Good to see you could stomach it." She heard Vish say from his room before another wave a nausea hit her. She swore she could hear him chuckle before the barracks fell silent.

 **What do you guys think? I think it went pretty well. Well I've got nothing else. Next chapter will be out soon and it'll be an action one but not to much action.**


	8. Serpent's song pt1

**Hello all and welcome to the next chapter of Mamba out of place. First I wanna thank all of you who have followed and favorited me as well as those who have read the story up to this point. Second this chapter will be split in two with the first part being what you're about to read with the second part being posted in a few days. Without further adieu I'll let you read the story.**

The sun shined brightly over the land enveloping everything it touched in its warmth. The citizens of the valley were just waking up and beginning their morning routines. They expected this day to be like any other day with friendly waves and good business. However, this day would be anything but normal. While most of the valley's inhabitants were happy, one felt the opposite.

Vish stared down at the Valley of Peace from his place next to the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. His expression was one of deep contempt. His morning was going well until he remembered what Viper had told him the other day. She had told him that he would have to give an apology to the citizens of the valley. He had never apologized to a two legger let alone a whole village of them and he had hoped he would never have to. When he had argued against giving an apology on the grounds that it wasn't his fault that they didn't listen to his warnings she had told him that even if that was true he still needed to apologize. In response, he told her it wouldn't make a difference. Her response was like her first one. Eventually he just gave up and decided to go with it, he knew arguing with a female would get him nowhere. Even so he didn't like this idea.

Vish was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of someone coming up the steps. Glancing back, he saw it was Viper. He looked back at the view before turning to face her. "You ready?" She asked him.

"Sure." He told her flatly.

"I don't know why you're getting so worked up about this." She said with a frown as he slithered past her.

He shook his head, "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." She said following him.

Vish chuckled, "I hope you know how lucky you are. Few creatures as persistent as you have survived for this long." Looking back he saw she was still waiting for an answer though she was a farther behind him then she was before. This made him a little sad as he saw he had scared her a bit however his pride made him brush it off. "Serpents are very proud creatures as you probably already know." She nodded at this, "In my world it is beneath us and considered improper to apologize to those who antagonize us after we give are warnings. This is how it has been since before you or I were born. If we apologized to a predator, they would respond with taking off our heads."

Viper gulped before giving her response, "That may be true in your world, but in this world, you apologize when you bite someone." She was getting fed up with his refusal to give a simple apology.

"So, you've told me." Vish sighed he was not getting into another disagreement with her it was like listening to bird's chirp. Chirp, chirp, chirp he couldn't do anything about it and it left him in a foul mood. It didn't help that he hated seeing her unhappy and would do just about anything to see her joyful once more. It had been some time since he cared about someone else's feelings. He rolled his eyes vipers had always made him act strange.

Viper hmphed at his response before falling silent.

"Look, Viper." He stopped and turned around making her stop. He made sure she was listening before he spoke again, "Let's just go down to the village and get this over with. I'll apologize and then I'll leave and you can have fun with everyone else."

Viper's expression changed at his words, "You don't have to leave, Vish, I just want you to give the villagers a chance. You both got off on the wrong foot..."

"You know I hate those limb expressions." He hissed cutting her off.

"Fine you both didn't give good first impressions." She corrected, she understood why he didn't like those expressions as she didn't enjoy them either, "Maybe you can get along with them?"

Vish chuckled before turning around and continuing down the stairs, "Always the optimist. Must be an interesting way to view the world."

"It sure is. Why do you have to be a pessimist?" She asked. She wasn't angry she just wanted to know why.

This pleased him as she seemed happy enough to engage him in some form of banter, "I call it being a realist and it comes with living in world where everything wants to kill you."

"I'm sorry." She told him. He looked back and saw she was wearing a sincere smile.

"Don't be I've gotten used to it and its part of the reason why I can adapt to just about any situation." It was true, living in that environment you had to adapt or die.

"Still no one should have to live like that." She said giving her opinion.

Vish didn't even give her a response as he felt it was unneeded. They soon reached the top of the Jade Palace steps where Master Shifu was waiting for them. The two serpents bowed to him, "Are you ready mamba?"

"Yes, Master."

"Very good then let's get down there before we are late." The red panda began walking down the steps with Viper and Vish following him. It took them about ten minutes but they finally reached the bottom of the steps. Making their way through the town they finally reached a stage set up in the middle of town. Peeking over it Vish saw that almost the whole town was in assembly he saw pigs, geese, rabbits and a few goats.

Vish looked at Viper and she nodded encouragingly. He sighed before jumping onto stage and slithering over to Shifu who was at the podium. Once the villagers saw him they began to yell and scream insults such as monster, devil, demon, oh and his favorite worm. _Those hypocrites should look at their reflections sometime_.

Master Shifu raised his arm and the crowd fell silent, "Citizens of the Valley of Peace please refrain from using such words. Vish is here to apologize for his actions."

"That evil spirit has a name!?" A pig yelled in disbelief.

"Yes, he has a name!" Viper yelled back.

"Why are you defending him!? Why are the warriors of the Jade Palace harboring a criminal!?" A Goat from the back yelled and with that the rest of the crowd joined in.

Po, the rest of the five and Shifu attempted to regain control of the crowd to no avail. Vish waited for the situation to be brought back under control though he doubted they could.

Then one of the villagers yelled something different, "That viper probably tricked her friends into accepting him! She probably knew he was the one attacking us too!"

Vish saw Viper was hurt by this comment. And why shouldn't she be? She defends these people and they're still ungrateful. Looking back over the crowd he saw that some of the others were agreeing with the comment. Vish narrowed his eyes before gesturing for Shifu to move aside the Kung-Fu master was confused before complying. Jumping up onto the podium he took a deep breath before letting it out, "SILENCE!" Everyone around him covered their ears at the intensity of the yell. Once he was finished he saw that he had gotten everyone's attention, "Now who started the comments about Viper?" The crowd was silent until a goose raise his wing. "You're the one?"

"U-um yes." The goose stuttered his wings now clasped together nervously.

Vish glanced at Shifu, Po and the five who watched in anticipation. Turning back around Vish locked his eyes on the now whimpering creature, "Leave."

"W-what?" The bird asked confused.

"I said leave. You obviously don't want to be here and only came to throw insults. So, since you can't do that anymore either leave or be silent." Vish flicked his tongue out in attempt to get the goose to get a move on.

The goose lowered his head before walking away, Vish watched him until he turned the corner then he turned his attention back to the audience, "Now that that's over with let's move on to why we're really here." He sighed and rubbed his temple with his tail, "To those of you who I've bitten I'm sorry and to the rest of you I'm sorry for frightening you with my presence in the forest. Though my actions seemed malevolent I was only acting out of self-defense. I know that does not forgive my actions towards you, but hopefully we can put it behind us. I don't expect you to forgive me and given what I did just a few minutes ago, I assume that chance is even lower." He closed his eyes and everyone leaned forward in anticipation. Then his eyes opened with his forest green pupils boring into all those present, "You can call me anything you want, you can be friendly or mean, you can even try to kill me, but..." His voiced gained volume once more, "I will not allow you to insult one who has protected you on multiple occasions, and one who has shown me kindness when I do not deserve it. Is that clear?" No one said anything. The air was tense as he listened for a response. He flicked his tongue out in irritation which he had found himself doing a lot more lately, then he jumped off the podium and turned to the shocked masters. "Does that suffice?"

Master Shifu composed himself before nodding. Vish bowed before slithering off the stage and back towards the palace. He counted to ten then as he finished he heard the roar of the crowd as they threw insults once more though careful to direct them only at him. _Cowards can't stand up to me until I have my back turned._ Then to his right he saw a green figure. He didn't even turn to acknowledge it he knew who it was.

Viper was silent for about a minute before she spoke, "Thank you for sticking up for me." She had been shocked by the villager's comments but she had been even more shocked when Vish had stood up for her. It made her happy that he cared enough to stand up for her. She was glad that her second encounter with another snake was going better than the last one.

"Don't mention it. A person like you doesn't derive to be treated that way." Then he chuckled, "Besides shutting them up gave me quite the thrill."

"Well thanks anyway. I'm sorry it didn't turn out well, I really thought they'd at least hear you out." She told him as they passed by a couple of stalls.

"Really? I knew this would happen from the beginning though I didn't expect them to bring you into it." Vish looked around at the stalls seeing that a few of the villagers who didn't attend his _speech_ were looking at him nervously.

"Neither did I. I just wish they didn't see snakes as evil. I really with that they would…. Vish?" Viper said before noticing he companion was no longer beside her. Looking back, she saw that he had stopped at a table full of instruments. Slithering over to him she saw he was looking intently at a weird oval.

"What is that?" He asked the Pig behind the table who looked like he was about to wet his pants.

"I-it's an ocarina." The vendor stuttered out looking at Viper for help.

"What's up Vish?" She asked confused at his actions.

"I had one of those in by burrow back home." He told her eyes still locked on the instrument, "How much?"

"What?" The vendor asked.

Vish cleared his throat, "How much is it worth? To buy."

"U-um forty yuan." The Pig told them though it sounded more like a question.

"Forty yuan?" Viper asked shocked at the price

"It's a unique instrument!" The pig blurted.

Vish sighed before slithering away. He didn't have forty yuan. Heck he only had ten yuan and that was from winning a bet with Mantis and Monkey. It was a shame it looked just like his old one and though he really didn't know how to play it, it was the memories that came with it that made him want it.

Viper watched sadly as Vish slithered back to the Jade Palace looking downtrodden. Turning back to the vender she whispered something to him before joining Vish as he made his way up the stairs.

On a hill overlooking the village stood a wolf with a metal eye patch. He was Heilang leader of the Lin Kuei the famous group of wolf assassins. It had been some time since he had been to the Valley of Peace and it hadn't ended well. He and his group had been defeated time and again by the masters of the Jade Palace. Growling he grabbed a bamboo stick and tore it in half. They had been so close too with luck being the only reason why they had failed. However, that was in the past and now they would have their revenge. Behind him stood a large group of wolves in outfits like his own, most were still new though they had been trained to where they could hold their own against Kung-Fu masters. Chuckling evilly, he dropped what was left of the bamboo stick over the side. Soon he told himself, soon they would strike and the village would fall.

Vish was in his room practicing his Chinese writing. The fire from his speech had burned out the minute he had left that the vender with the ocarina. He had found his a few years back when it had fallen out of a two legger's bag. He had no idea what it was until the wind blew and sound came out of it. It had startled him at first but once he realized it couldn't hurt him he had taken it as his own. He tried to play it though he was certain he wasn't playing it right. After seeing a two legger blow into a bamboo stick and noise came out he decided to try it that way. It had worked and though it took him a while to get used to it he felt that he could play it much better. He chuckled as he drew another letter. Nireeh had loved the sounds that came out of it and she would always ask to hear it before she went to sleep. It also helped him get back at birds by drowning out their annoying chirps.

He was jolted from his thoughts by a knock on his door. Looking up he saw a serpentine figure on the other side. Slithering over he opened the door to see Viper standing there smiling. "Hi, Vish, how are you doing?"

Vish was confused, _didn't she know? She had been there?_ "I am good." Slithering backwards he invited her in. She gave him a smile before slithering into the middle of the room. Watching her go past him he saw something was in her coils.

Once they were settled Viper saw the laid out scroll and ink pot, "Practicing your letters?"

"Yes, practice makes perfect." He told her stacking a few stray scrolls on top of each other, "So what can I do for you?"

Viper sighed, _straight to the point as always,_ "I noticed that you really like that ocarina the pig had."

 _Where was, she going with this?_ "Yes." He told her.

"Well first I wanted to thank you for going through with your apology. I also wanted to thank you once more for standing up for me." She told him moving the thing she had in her coils forward.

"Like I said it was nothing." He told her.

"Well to me it meant a lot. So, I got you something." She uncoiled to reveal a red box. She pushed it towards him.

Vish looked at her confused before using his tail to take the lid off. What he saw shocked him, inside was a dark blue ocarina the very same one from before. He glanced at her and she gave a smile. Reaching into the box he pulled the instrument out, the initial coldness burned him but then he began to wrap his two of his coils around it. The texture was almost exactly like the one he used to have, the width of the holes was the same as well though there were two additional ones, looking at it he saw his reflection smiling back at him. Once he was done examining it he looked back at Viper, "How?"

"I had forty yuan saved, so I once you left I got it from my room before going back to buy it." She explained.

"You didn't have to do this. So, why did you?" He asked. He knew what kindness was, but it had been so long since he felt it. It was almost alien.

"I don't like seeing people sad and I saw how much this meant to you. You do like it, don't you?" She replied.

Inside of his mind two ideologies were battling, on one hand his pride wouldn't let him take anything from anyone without giving them something back, on the other hand he knew if he rejected her gift that it would gain a negative reaction and probably hurt her and their friendship which he valued greatly. "Yes, I like it, Viper, thank you."

Viper didn't think her smile could have been any wider, "Well go on." She gestured, "Lay something on me."

"What? Why would I lay something on you? Oh, are you cold and need me to lay a blanket on you?" Vish asked her meaning going over his head.

She giggled, "No, what I mean it play something."

"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" He said making her shake her head, "Um I don't know if it'll be any good it's been some time since I've played."

"That's fine I've never heard an ocarina before so it's not like I can judge you." She told him.

Vish wrapped his tail around the instrument making sure to cover most of the holes. He had never played one with this many holes. Taking a deep breath, he put his lips to the windway before blowing. A loud sound came out of it making them both recoil. Taking his lips off the windway he shifted his coils before trying again only with less force and moving his coils around while he played. This time a beautiful sound like that of a flute flowed out of the holes of the instrument. He played for a few minutes before he made a mistake then stopped.

Looking up he saw Viper looking at him in awe, seeing this he felt his face heat up, "Vish, that was beautiful."

"Thanks, Viper." He smiled warmly at her and she returned it.

"You wanna go make some lunch?" She said after a few minutes.

"Sure." He nodded placing the ocarina back in the box. He put it next to his bed before going to follow her out. Then he remembered his thoughts from earlier, grabbing her tail he turned her around to face him, "Viper, you have given me something out of the kindness of your heart. I cannot allow this to go unrequited, while I currently don't possess the anything of similar value or money enough yuan to get you something know that I will pay you back. This I promise you."

Viper stared at him in shock. She was touched by his promise though she didn't understand why he felt he needed to thank her in that way, "You don't have to, Vish, your appreciation and the care I'm sure you'll give that ocarina is thanks enough." She tried to slither away but he held firm though not enough to hurt her.

"Even so I will pay you back for this. You brought back to me something I thought was lost forever. Should the need or opportunity arise I will pay you back in an equally meaningful way." He told her before releasing his grip. She stood there for a few moments before giving him a smile.

Slithering into the kitchen they found that Tigress, Mantis and Crane had returned from the village and were now eating noodles. Vish moved to the cupboard to get some rice balls while Viper sat down next to Crane.

"So, what happened after we left?" She asked pulling out her chair before jumping up to the seat.

"You mean after Vish got done scaring the hell out of everyone?" Mantis chuckled before putting more noodles into his mouth.

"Um sure." She replied. Truthfully, she never knew Vish had it in him to yell so loud. She had never heard him raise his voice so it was a big shock to all of them.

"Well as soon as, Vish, was out of sight they started yelling again. It took about ten minutes to disperse the crowd, after that we took down the stage. Po and Monkey went to Mr. Pings for lunch, Master Shifu went to talk to Constable Hu, and as you know we just got back. What was that music by the way?" Crane told her since Mantis was chewing.

"Oh, that was Vish." She told them as Vish pulled out a few rice balls and gave them to her before sitting across from her.

"That was Vish? What was he playing?" Tigress asked looking at the coffin headed serpent.

Vish gestured to Viper who sighed before speaking, "He was playing an ocarina."

"A what?" Mantis asked spitting noodles out of his mouth earning disgusted looks from his friends.

"An ocarina, it's like a weird shaped flute. I saw one at the musician's village once but I'd never heard it until now." She answered before swallowing her rice ball.

"And why was he playing this instrument?" Tigress asked looking at Vish.

He shrugged, "I like the sound of it." Looking back at her he could tell she wasn't completely satisfied. To bad for her he didn't trust her enough to tell her more.

Tigress narrowed her eyes, "I would have thought a warrior like you would take their training more seriously."

His eyes locked with hers and he let out a warning hiss, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Tigress growled, "A serious warrior should devote all of their free time to training not wasting their time on frivolous hobbies."

Vish rose up so that they were at eye level. He silently contemplate his next action. Eventually he decided not to give her the satisfaction of truly riling him up." Looking away he glanced at Viper "I'm gonna go play some more." He said to her before slithering out of the kitchen.

The four of them watched him go before Viper hissed at Tigress, "Why did you have act like that?"

"What? I was just expressing my opinion." Her friend replied. She felt a small amount of satisfaction at the fact that she had gotten him back for a few days ago.

"Still you didn't need to act that way. Could you at least try to get along with him?" Viper asked as she heard Vish resume his playing.

"You know I don't do getting along." Tigress said crossing her arms.

"Please just try you two are a very like each other." Viper told her.

"How…" Before she could utter the second word Monkey burst into the kitchen.

"Lin Kuie!"

"What? But we haven't seen them in over a year." Crane said as all the warriors jumped out of their seats.

"Tell that to them. They're attacking the village." Monkey shot back.

"Where's, Po?" Mantis asked jumping onto the simian's shoulder.

"He's holding them off." Monkey said running out of the kitchen.

The others began to follow until Viper stopped, "Shouldn't we get, Vish?"

"No time, Po needs us now! Besides we've beat them without him and we can do it again." Tigress said still sore about her disagreement with the serpent. Viper looked back at the door to Vish's room which was now closed before joining her friends in their sprint down to the valley.

 **How was it? I think it was good. Well I'll let you guys tell me. Next chapter will be up soon.**


	9. Serpent's song pt 2

**Here's part two of the serpent's song. Yay for me my first two parter! I also wanna thank my beta reader Harmony Valencia Smith for her help with all the chapters up to this point. Well without further aide I'll let you get to reading.**

The Furious Five reached the bottom of the steps in time to see a wolf smash into the stairs behind them. Looking at the scene in front of them they saw six or so wolves fighting Po with their chain hammers. Not wasting anytime, they rushed to help their friend. The three of the wolves saw them and tossed their chain hammers at them but they all dodged. Within moments five of the wolves were unconscious. Seeing that he was out numbered the last wolf did the sensible thing and ran for it. "After him!" Tigress yelled running after him with the others following.

They chased the wolf for a few minutes till he turned the corner. Following behind him they saw that he had run into a dead-end alley. The wolf turned around to face them his face full of fear. Tigress smiled cracking her knuckles and neck joints. She was going to enjoy this. They advanced on the wolf forcing him back up into the wall. Then the wolf looked behind them and smiled. Confused the warriors looked behind them to see about fifteen wolves carrying chain hammers and crossbows, then a roof tile fell from above them making them look up to see more wolves on the roofs surrounding them each one carrying the same weapons as the wolves behind them. Turning their attention back to the end of the alley they saw that the wolf had been joined by seven more wolves and their leader Heilang who was pointing his sword at them, "Been a while Jade Palace warriors." He chuckled, "Now surrender or be killed."

Tigress growled in anger before putting her hands over her head. "Tigress!" Po whispered.

"We can't win they've got us boxed in and there's too many arrows to dodge." She told him. Looking around Po saw that all the others had surrendered as well. Groaning he put his hands up as well.

Heilang laughed evilly, "Take them!" The Lin Kuie behind them pulled out ropes and advanced on them. In a few minutes, all the warriors were tied up. Heilang walked up to them and put his sword to Po's neck, "You six have foiled my plans time and time again. You've ruined the Lin Kuie's reputation!" He composed himself, "But that all ends now. I'm gonna keep your head as a trophy Dragon Warrior. No one will get in our way once they hear we've killed the dragon warrior." He turned to the rest of the five before smiling, "As for the rest of you I've never had a five-course meal before." The six warrior's eyes widened in shock at what he was implying.

Vish sighed as he slithered into the kitchen once more. He had been practicing his ocarina playing for a good thirty minutes straight and now his throat was dry. Luckily in this world he didn't have to brave the dangers of the forest to get a simple drink. Filling up a cup full of water he quickly gulped it down. _That hit the spot_. Filling up his cup once more he decided to go outside and get some fresh air. Opening the door of the barracks he slithered out with his ocarina tucked safely in his coils and the cup of water held in his tail. He began to set his water down when he suddenly smelled smoke, looking around he saw a pillar of smoke rising from the village. _Are they cooking something?_ Then his eyes widened in realization. _Bunnies and goats don't eat meat so why would they be cooking something!?_ Dropping his cup, he raced towards the village.

Once he reached the bottom of the steps he saw that the pillar was now half a mile tall. He began to slither towards the source when he saw a wolf with a chain that ended in a weird shaped stone. Viper had told him about these wolves whom she said were called the Lin Kuie. They were a group of assassins that would kill anyone who got in their way. Rolling to the side he hid under an apple cart as the wolf walked past him. _Are they responsible for the smoke? If so I better be careful._ Checking that the coast was clear he slithered out from underneath the cart before jumping onto the roof next to him. He made his way through the town until he came to the main square. What he found shocked him.

In the center of the square lay a huge bonfire that was ten feet wide, next to it were a group of bamboo stocks. Looking closer he saw that the bamboo stocks were each connected to another bamboo stock by using a very thick bamboo stock. And tied to these thick bamboo stocks were Viper, Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Crane, Shifu and six other villagers. They were slowly being turned in a clockwise motion. _Manasa above they're slowly cooking them alive._ He had to put a stop to this but he wasn't going to act like how Viper said Po did and just rush in blindly. Continuing his observation, he saw that on the side of the pit closest to him the about fifteen of the wolves were guarding the villagers that they had taken prisoner. Next to them was a turned over chest with a curved base. _What could they be using that for?_

He was snapped from his thoughts as the door to the house he was on top of was opened violently. Out of the house stepped a large wolf with a sword in his hand. _That must be Heilang their leader._ As the wolf made his way to the chest a pair of wolves followed him dragging Po behind them.

"Come on guys can't we talk this over?" The panda asked before he was dropped in front of the chest.

Heilang bent down and grabbed his chin forcing him to look up at him, "Sure why don't we talk this over dinner. We're having Panda head soup. Would you like some it's a delicacy?"

"Um no thanks." Po said meekly, "You weren't nearly this psychotic last time. What happened to you?"

Heilang laughed, "After you defeated us I became obsessed with revenge and now I have it. Revenge messes with your mind makes you do crazy things but if I get my revenge I really don't care what it takes." With that he gestured to the pair of wolves who forced Po to his feet before throwing him onto the chest so that his neck rested on its curved base.

"Po!" Tigress yelled.

"Don't worry kitty you'll join him soon enough." Heilang said as he pulled his sword out.

Back on top of the building Vish had finally formulate a plan to save Po and free the five plus Shifu. However, since Heilang had decided to be done with the pandas' execution sooner than he expected he had to make one up off the fly.

Heilang lipped his licks eagerly as he raised his sword and prepared to bring it down on the panda's neck. He reached his sword high and was about to bring it down when, "Hey!" He faltered in his stance nearly dropping the sword. Growling he looked around for the owner of the voice, "Who said that!?" He yelled.

"Up here one eye." Looking up he saw a pale brown snake holding an instrument on the house in front of him. "Who are you?"

"You can call me Vish." The serpent replied.

"And why are you here Vish? Come to save your friends? Fat chance of that. Don't you see my army of wolves?"

"Yeah I see them and I didn't come to save anyone." Vish told him.

"What?" Heilang asked not expecting that answer.

"What!?" Po, Viper and Tigress yelled.

"Then why are you here?"

"Just thought you might want some music so brighten up your execution and feast."

"Why?" Heilang asked still confused.

"Well I find it helps set the mood and make it more memorable. Don't you agree?" Vish replied.

Heilang thought about it for a minute. Now if he still had his sanity he would know something was up however, his unhinged mind found the idea to be perfect. He chuckled, "Fine then snake play us your best tune."

Vish nodded putting the windway to his lips he began to play a morbid but catchy toon. This went on for a few minutes with everyone listening intently. Finally, it got to the point where Heilang felt the tempo was just right, he raised his sword once more and prepared to bring it down. Vish watched the wolf's arm attentively, then he saw a twitch signaling he was about to bring the sword down. Stopping his symphony, he took a in a deep breath and uncovered the ocarina's holes. Viper saw this and quickly told the others to prepare. Without warning Vish blew into the ocarina with all his might. The sound it produced was ear splitting causing all who were listening to cover their ears to block out the noise.

Seizing his opportunity Vish threw the ocarina at Heilang hitting him in the head and further disorienting him. Jumping off the roof he brought his tail down on one of the wolves holding Po down before spinning and hitting the other one it the face bringing them both down. He quickly grabbed Heilang's sword and used to cut his bindings. Next, he charged at the bamboo stocks before jumping up and cutting the five, Shifu, and the villagers free. The Tigress, Viper, Mantis and Shifu moved quickly to take down as many of the Lin Kuei while they were still recovering while Monkey and Crane helped him get the villagers off the stocks. Once they were safely on the ground they joined Po and the others in attacking the wolves. He hopped that they could finish this before the rest of them recovered but it was not to be. A minute after they had saved the villagers the remaining Lin Kuei had begun to fight back. It didn't matter though as more than half their initial force now lay on the ground defeated.

Looking around he saw that Heilang was now back on his feet and was charging towards him with a sword he had taken from one of his fallen brothers. He quickly tried a leg sweep only for the wolf to jump over it and try to stab him. He dodged however and hit the wolf in the face with his tail which hurt due to the mask he wore. The wolf growled before swiping at his once more, he dodged of course and this became the routine or the next minute or so. Heilang would swipe and he would dodge. He could see however that the wolf was getting worn out and getting desperate. Heilang however grew wise to his tactics and as he dodged the next sword swipe the wolf's fist smashed into his head sending him into the wall of the house behind him.

Groaning he got up and saw Heilang walking towards him sword drawn an apparently gloating for some reason he couldn't hear what he was saying. It didn't really matter as the wolf swiped down at him. Jumping into the air he dodged the sword, though the edge still caught hit underbelly, coming down he did a flip that ended with his tail slamming into the back of the wolf's head and forcing it into the wall of the house. The wolf crumbled to the ground in defeat.

Sighing he slithered over to check that the wolf was down. Rolling the wolf over with his tail he saw that Heilang was indeed unconscious. He would have killed the wolf then and there with his venom, but the he had milked himself that morning meaning he couldn't use venom for a week or two. _Not that, Viper, would ever allow me too._ Speaking of her he turned around and saw that everyone else was watching him and she was slithering towards him her face full of worry. Then he saw he mouth move but just like before he couldn't hear what she said, "What?"

Her face took on a look of confusion as she spoke again and once again no words came out. "What?" He didn't know why he couldn't hear what she was saying. Then he realized what had happened. The wolf's may have only been dazed by his blasting of the ocarina his proximity to it had made him temporarily deaf. _You've gotta be kidding me_. Even more unfortunate was that the adrenaline finally wore off just as he realized his deafness.

All Vish felt was pain, so much pain in fact that he collapsed from it and his immense exhaustion. His head hurt from having so many decibels blasted into it and getting punched into a wall, his chest hurt from being slashed by the sword, his throat felt like it was on fire from blowing so much air out and from moving around so fast. Truthfully, he just wanted to lay there and never get up.

"Vish!" Viper yelled rushing to his side. She was relieved to see him still awake. "Vish, where does it hurt most?" No response, "Come on, Vish, I can't help you if you don't tell me where." She saw him slowly raise his head up to stare at her before his tail came around pointed to her mouth and then to his head before he shook his head. _He can't hear? It must have happened when he blew the ocarina._ "Oh, Vish." She looked down and saw a small pool of blood forming under him. Rolling him over she saw where the sword had cut him. It didn't look to serious but she knew from experience that it hurt a lot. Calling over a doctor she showed them the injury before stepping back to allow him to do his work. Vish however backed away from the doctor hissing however he calmed down when Viper put her tail on his back and gave him a reassuring smile. While the doctor worked on Vish she looked around and saw that the others were collecting the Lin Kuei and tying them up for the imperial guard. Then she saw Master Shifu walking towards her hands behind his back, "How is he?"

"Not too good, but nothing fatal, master. He couldn't hear anything I was saying and Heilang managed to land a few hits on him." She told him gesturing to the wound the doctor was treating.

"Despite his injuries, we must be grateful that he was here to save us." She nodded, "Why was he not with you all to begin with?"

"Tigress, thought that we could handle them on our own." She told him.

"I will speak to her about this. It seems however that we must work on recognizing ambushes once more." He told her looking over at his adopted daughter.

"Yes, Master. Though if I may make a suggestion?" She replied looking over at the doctor who was now finishing with Vish.

"Of course, what did you have in mind?" He said following her gaze.

"Vish told me that he has a lot of experience in ambushes, so maybe he could help us." She told him.

"Given how he managed to catch the wolves by surprise I will consider it." He replied. T doctor was now done with Vish who was content to wait for Viper to finish her conversation, "For now he needs to rest and recuperate."

"Yes, master." With that he left her to go speak with Tigress. She watched him go before slithering over to Vish and gesturing for him to follow her. Reluctantly he did though he grumbled something undecipherable. As they made their way through the village they passed a few groups of villagers who shied away whenever Vish got close. She hissed in irritation once they were out of ear shot. Vish may have been content to ignore them, but she couldn't let this go. He had just save all their lives and they still wouldn't forgive him. She was once again reminded of the world they lived in. They soon reached the bottom of the stairs. Looking over at him his face betrayed his discontent. Despite this she saw that his pride prevented him from asking her for help. They made it about three-fourths of the way up the stairs before he had to take a break. He looked at her amused expression before hissing and slithering up the rest of the stairs. She smiled and shook her head before following him.

On a mountain, a few miles away from the valley a large figure clad in a dark robe with a crimson outline waited for his companion. He hissed impatiently, _He should have been here over an hour ago,_ looking out over the horizon he saw that the pillar of smoke that had risen in the distance some time ago had finally dissipated.

"You're still staring at it?" A voice behind him chuckled, "The fire was put out a long time ago."

"I would have known that sooner if you had been here on time." He said turning to face the newcomer, "What kept you?"

"I had to make sure I wasn't seen and that makes traveling take longer." The newcomer said.

"I can see. So, what do you have to report?" The robed figure said looking back at the horizon.

"Well after waiting two weeks I finally saw him. The traitor and her friends forced him to apologize to those no-good villagers. After that he left before coming back to fight off the Lin Kuie."

"And how did he do?" The robed figure asked turning to face his companion.

"Heilang, got a few hits in, probably because he's never faced a wolf before, but he managed to take him down without much trouble plus a few other wolves. When he first arrived to save, them it looked like he was going to let the wolves kill them all, but it was merely a trick to get them to drop their guard", His companion said with a smile.

"Excellent." He smiled, "What is his name and do you think he will join us?"

"His name is Vish and I think that it is too soon to know if he will join us. Though it would be nice to gain control of them both." His companion said smiling evilly.

"Ah, such a powerful name. And yes, it would be nice to have control of both." He was silent for a few minutes before speaking again, "We need to test him before we can attempt to gain his loyalty. Tell our friend that she may begin her plan when she is ready. In the meantime, continue to monitor his actions."

"Of course, Master." His underling bowed before leaving him.

The robed figure continued to watch the sun as it began to set. "Vish?" He chuckled, "Hmm,Let us see if you are the one we've been waiting for."

Vish sighed as he heard the peach tree shake in the wind. After not hearing anything for nearly six hours he came to enjoy simple sounds such as this. After his hearing, had come back he had decided to come up here and watch the sunset. He took in a deep breath of fresh air before exhaling. His throat had gotten better as well though it still hurt. Looking down at the village he saw lanterns were starting to be lit.

"I thought I might find you up here." Viper said from behind him. She slithered over to him and joined him in watching the sun go down. "I know you've heard me say this a lot today, but thank you."

He rolled his eyes at her second comment, "Of course, Viper, what kind of friend would I be if I let you be cooked alive and eaten?"

She giggled, "Not a very good one." Looking to the side he smiled warmly at her.

"I just wanted to let you know I'm proud of what you did today especially for what you did for the villagers." She told him smiling back.

He looked back at the sun which was halfway beneath the skyline, "I didn't do it for them. They could have burned for all I care." She gasped at this, "Oh, don't act so surprised. The only reason I did anything was because you were endangered and I knew you would have been sad if any of your friends or the villagers died."

"I know you blame the two leggers for your sister's death, but why are you so hostile towards the villagers?" She asked him.

"Just because I told you about my sister doesn't mean you know the whole story and if you did you'd understand." He replied. The sun was almost gone now.

"And when will I get the rest of the story?" She asked carefully.

He chuckled as he watched the sun disappear, "There are some things you're better off not knowing. But if you keep earning my trust you'll find out in time." They sat there together in silence for what felt like hours before they both headed back to the barracks.

 **So what did you think? Please let me know in a review or PM. Also I would like to thank FullFear ( for being the second person to leave a review on this story. Also as of right now I won't have deadlines for chapters now since I always miss them and finals are coming up. I hope you all are doing well. Bye!**


	10. Vish the teacher?

**Warning! This chapter is not as well written as the last few as my beta is gone or awhile also it's more of a filler chapter and isn't essential to the whole story. With that out of the way I'd like to thank all of you for your support for this story.**

 **Trintiger: Thanks for your review and thanks for what you said. Also, I did well on finals and managed to pass all my classes so that's good.**

 **Cone of Wonders: Thank you for your review.**

Vish sat outside the training hall playing a lovely tune on his ocarina. Swaying from side to side he felt the sun's rays dance along his scales. There was a nice breeze blowing that balanced out the heat from the sun. In short everything was perfect. Then he heard a rustle of leaves and the perfectness of the moment was shattered. He continued to play normally, but now he focused more on his surroundings then the music.

At Viper's suggestion Master Shifu had put him in charge of ambush training as he had spent more time practicing it then any of them had. To gage their experience, he tasked them with ambushing him. However, it wasn't going well, he knew Crane was in the air above him, Mantis and Monkey he knew were on the other side of the courtyard's outer wall, Viper was behind a pillar off to his left, and now he knew that Po and Tigress were in the bushes to his right. He could see that the five had the basics of ambush training down, but Po. Well he was Po and to his displeasure Shifu had neglected to teach the panda any form of ambush tactics.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Monkey stick his head up and nod to the others. So, sloppy, he thought, let's get this over with. As Monkey lowered his head once more Vish did a quick sweep before jumping into the branches of the tree behind him.

Viper smirked as from behind the pillar as she prepared to jump out surprise attack Vish with the others. Any second now Monkey would give them the signal. Slightly peeking out from behind the pillar she saw the simian bring his head up from behind the wall and give a nod. That was the signal! Pulling her head back so she wouldn't be seen by Vish she prepared to attack. This is a lot easier than I thought it would be. Maybe he's not as good as he claims. She listened to Vish play the ocarina, then there was silence. What!? Peeking out again she saw he was gone. Then she heard Po yell, "Ow!" Looking over at his and Tigress's hiding spot she saw the tiger and panda on the ground. How did? Then she heard Monkey and Mantis let out yells of pain. Now she was really scared, it was only her and Crane left and they had no idea where he was. Then she saw doors to the courtyard open with Monkey in the middle of them. She moved to help him, but stopped herself knowing this was a trap. However, it seemed Crane didn't know this as he quickly flew down and landed next to his friend who was trying to say something, "It's a trap." The avian's eyes widened in realization before a tan tail shot out and grabbed him pulling him through the door way. If she wasn't scared before now she was downright terrified. How was he doing this and how had he managed to do all this without making a sound. Wait! If he knew where the others were he probably knew where she was too! She turned around and was about to go find a different spot to hide when she was met with a pair of forest green eyes, "Hi there." She felt her breath catch in her throat before he raised his tail up and bopped her on the nose. She sighed in relief, "Come on." She followed him into the courtyard where the others had now gathered.

Po was the first one to speak, "So um how did we do?" The panda smiled nervously as the mamba's gaze snapped to him.

"Permission to speak freely, Master Shifu?" Vish asked out loud.

"Granted." Shifu said jumping down from his perch atop the roof of the training hall. He had seen the whole thing and was also interested to hear Vish's opinion of his students.

"Thank you." Vish bowed before turning to the others, "Truthfully that was one of the worst ambushes I have ever seen in my entire life and I've seen hundreds of them!" All of them except Tigress winced at his words. Then he began to point out their mistakes similar to how Shifu had reacted in a similar occurrence, "Crane, you were to low and were too easy to see, Mantis and Monkey, you chose a terrible spot as it didn't give you clear line of sight and Monkey I could see your head every time you checked on my position, Tigress, you and ,Po, made too much noise, Viper, your position left to many put to many obstacles between you and me, also your green coloration clashed with the red pillar you hid behind. If this was real then all of you would be dead, especially you, Po." All their heads lowered in shame, "However you all show some promise. Crane, you need more height and it would help if you approached from with the sun behind you, Mantis, you would have been better hiding in the grass or in the tree I jumped into, Viper, next time try to blend into your surroundings the roof would have been perfect." The three he had spoken to nodded. Now he turned to the three mammals, "Tigress, I would normally give you the benefit of the doubt because of Po's mistake, but it was your decision to hide with him. Monkey as I said better positioning also you need a better signal that doesn't expose you. Po, I really have nothing to say to you. If I didn't have to help you I'd have written you off as a lost cause, your bulky which is good for fist fights but not for ambushes. Since you all failed to impress me you will only eat half of your breakfast." With that he left them to go put his ocarina away.

"Wow and I thought, Master Shifu, was harsh." Po commented once he was out of earshot. He grunted as Tigress elbowed him in the chest. Po was about to ask why when he saw Shifu's ears fall, "Oh, um sorry, master."

"It's ok, Po, I know I was hard on you all in the past and I'm sorry for that." The others were about to protest when he held his hand up silencing them. His ears rose as he began to speak again, "Get some breakfast I'm sure you will need it with what, Vish, probably has planned." They all bowed to him before heading towards the barracks.

Once they entered the kitchen they saw bowls had already been set out for them with each of them only getting a single bean bun. "Only one bean bun!?" Po wined as they sat down, "How am I going to survive!?"

"If you don't want it I'll take it." Monkey said reaching over to grab it.

"No!" Po yelled slapping his hand away and stuffing the bean bun into his mouth.

Monkey chuckled at this but fell silent as Vish entered the kitchen and sat down next to Viper. Looking at his bowl they saw he only had one bean bun as well, "Vish, why are you only eating one as well?"

He glanced at Viper, "In a pack or in this case a team all of the members suffer the same punishment. So, for every punishment you receive I will also suffer the consequences." With that he took his bean bun and swallowed it.

The others felt a newfound respect for Vish after hearing his reasons. Not many teachers would implement this type of rule and if they did they usually had some loopholes. Once he was finished he began to slither out of the kitchen before looking back at them, "We will be meeting in the training hall in fifteen minutes." He slithered away and a few seconds later they heard the door to the barracks open then close.

"Well that was different." Mantis commented before taking a bite out of his bean bun. The others nodded and went back to eating their food.

A few minutes later they headed back to the training hall. Tigress who was behind the others was silently fuming. She and the five had failed to impress Vish with their skills, no scratch that they he had basically told them they were an embarrassment which made her blood boil. What right did he have to say those things? True Master Shifu had put him in charge and had given him permission to speak his opinion, but it still didn't sit right with her. But why? He was just a snake from another world while she and her friends were accomplished Kung-Fu masters. So, why did opinion matter to her so much? Ever since they had that staring contest she had seen him as some sort of rival which meant she had to show him as much respect as he showed her. Letting out a growl she decided that she would just have to try her best and impress him.

They soon reached the training halls doors, opening them and walking in they saw Vish talking Master Shifu while a pile of scrolls sat off to their right along with a stand to display them on. Walking over to them they sat down and waited for them to finish their conversation. After a few minutes, they turned and faced them. Vish nodded in satisfaction at seeing them arrive on time, "Master Shifu has informed me of the extent of your training in this field and after seeing your performance this morning I believe I know the best way to train you all.". He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Now it is very difficult to know when an ambush will happen, but it is possible to anticipate an ambush based off the given terrain or an individual's behavior." Picking up a small bamboo stick he pointed at the warriors, "Now this morning you were the ambushers, but guess what you are now?"

Po raise his hand and Vish sighed putting the stick to his head, "Yes, Po?"

"Kung-Fu masters?" The panda said timidly.

"First that was a rhetorical question and second... wrong!" Vish replied, "As of this moment you are not Kung-Fu masters you are prey. You are weak, helpless, harmless, pathetic and most importantly stupid." The others look offended at this, but Vish didn't care, "Don't worry you'll used to it. Any way let's move on." He grabbed one of the scrolls next to him before tossing it to the six warriors. "This is what your training will consist of." He told them as they opened the scroll which turned out to be a map with an "X" on it. A closer look at it revealed that it was a map of one of the areas around the valley of peace. "Your mission is to get to the X safely."

"Is that it?" Po asked confidently thinking this would be easy.

"Yes. You have ten minutes before you need to leave." With that Vish and Shifu picked up the rest of the scrolls before leaving.

Once the door closed the warriors began to converse with each other, "It can't be that easy." Tigress stated, "He must be up to something."

"We got that but what could it be? Are they gonna ambush us on the way there and if so when?" Crane asked looking over the map with Viper.

"Hmm, well based off this map here and here would be the best places to ambush us." Viper said pointing at the map.

"Can't we just go around them?" Monkey asked scratching his head.

"We could but what if they're expecting that?" Crane asked looking skeptical.

"Even so it's probably better than taking the obvious way." Tigress told them.

"Urgh but one of those ways goes up a mountain." Po wined.

"Oh, man up Po. Besides you owe me for getting us caught this morning." She told him with a glarr.

"Great let's just get this over with." He said going to get his stuff ready.

A few hours later the six warriors were knee deep in mud as they took another detour. Everyone but Tigress groaned as they were caked with mud. This was the fourth detour they had taken as Tigress who was trying to think like Vish pointed out another potential ambush point. They finally got out of the mud before getting back on the trail. They were now over halfway to the point on the map but if felt like they should have reached it by now. Then they heard a snapping sound causing all of them to get into stances facing in the direction of it, only to see that Po who was smiling sheepishly had been doing air punches and snapped a tree in half. Tigress facepalmed, "Po what are you doing?"

"Um I was just trying to get myself ready for an ambush." He told them.

Tigress sighed, "Po please try to wait until someone actually attacks you to start punching. You could have just given away our position."

"Sorry. Um but isn't us talking doing that too?" He asked.

She tried to come back with something but couldn't really come up with anything, "Just keep quiet ok? We're almost done." He nodded before raising his hand.

"Yes, Po?"

"Could we take a break at least?" He asked.

She was about to say no when she looked around and saw that the others wanted a break too. "Fine." She raised her hand showing her five fingers, "Five minutes." She sat down and began to take a breather.

The others lay or sat down as well before whispering to each other, "I wonder why they haven't done anything yet." Mantis said.

"Maybe they're impressed that we've skipped all the ambush spots?" Monkey said encouragingly.

Viper shook her head, "I wouldn't count on it. From what we've seen of Vish his standards are pretty high."

"I have to agree with Viper. Plus, I don't think he likes me." Crane agreed.

"Yeah what did you do to him besides laughing at him?" Po asked walking over to them.

"I didn't do anything!" Tigress glared at him making him lower his voice, "I just think he doesn't like me because I'm a bird."

"Why would he dislike you for that?" Mantis asked.

"I don't know but sometimes I catch him glaring at me for no reason." He told them.

"Maybe it's just because you stand on two feet, he did say he didn't like people who did that." Viper offered.

"Nah he seems to get along with, Tigress, enough and she walks on two legs too." The avian said. "I wouldn't exactly say they get along. You remember their last conversation?" Viper told him. "How could I forget? We we're almost cooked live shortly after it."

"Well did it look like they were getting along then?" She asked.

Crane winced at the memory, "I see your point, but that was more due to, Tigress's, personality then them not getting along." He pointed out.

"Maybe, but they haven't spoken much since, at least not to my knowledge." Viper replied.

Crane was about to say more but he was interrupted by Tigress, "Times up we need to get moving."

"Urgh but, Tigress." Po whined as everyone else started to get up.

"No buts panda." She said trying to lift him up.

"Well isn't this a nice surprise." A voice said making her drop Po. Spinning around they all saw Vish hanging on a bamboo tree, "It's also a bit disappointing."

"Um is this the ambush?" Po asked pushing himself up.

Vish stared incredulously at him before speaking, "Yes, Po, this is the ambush." Then he turned to the rest of them, "You were all doing very well too, even if it took twice as long as we anticipated."

"So now what? Do we have to do everything over again?" Monkey asked confused while Tigress was seething that they had failed despite everything she did.

"Did you learn anything?" Vish asked simply.

"I guess so. We certainly are more knowledgeable of ambushes then before." The simian shrugged while the others nodded.

"Then we are done." All but Tigress sighed in relief, "In actuality this was a near impossible task."

"What!?" Tigress shouted, "Then why are we out here in the first place?"

Vish fixed her with a glare, "Do you think the fisherman catches a fish every time he throws his line?"

"What?" She asked confused by the change of subject. She thought about it for a second before answering, "No, but what has that got to do with anything?"

Vish wanted to berate her for her narrowmindedness but decided against it. He did respect her, despite their disagreement the other day, so he would show her it. "It was a lesson. You came all this way, went through all this", He gestured to their mud caked legs and tired expressions, "Yet at the end you still failed. It was a lesson that you all obviously needed given your immediate acceptance of victory before being ambushed the other day." All of them even Tigress looked down at this, "Even when the fisherman has fought the fish and has it out of the water he still has not won. The fish can still get away and he will be left hungry. You had to learn not only about ambushes but how to accept failure once more as it is an everyday occurrence. You must also learn to keep going despite these failures."

At first the other seemed not to understand before the realization came over them. They had been winning a lot without either much trouble and some of Po's boasts made them feel a little invincible despite their defeats in the past. Even Tigress had to admit that it was one of the reasons she had ordered all of them after the fleeing wolf in the first place.

Vish seeing that they had gotten the message gave a quick smile before he remembered something and it morphed into a wide smirk, "Oh I just remembered. You failed at one other thing when it came to ambushes."

"And what was that?" Po asked a little scared by Vish's grin.

"Why don't you tell them, Shifu." Vish said loudly.

The others widened their eyes in shock as they remembered that their master was with Vish when he left and was helping to ambush them. Then they heard a yell before they all found themselves knocked to the ground. Looking up they saw Shifu standing over them with a smirk, "You forgot about diversions my, students."

"Yes, master." They groaned.

 **Well that wasn't too bad, was it? I took the beginning from the first movie since I couldn't think of anything else to do. Anyways next chapter we get back to the action and the plot. Please R &R**


	11. Bonding over a common foe pt 1

In the Jade Palace kitchen Tigress sat down with a sigh. In front of her was a cube of tofu and next to it was chopsticks as well as a scroll about fighting techniques she was reading. Today was an extremely peaceful morning and she was determined to enjoy it after the stressful week she had been having. She took the chopsticks in hand, picked up the tofu and was about to put it into her mouth when someone called her name, "Tigress."

Turning to her right she saw Master Shifu in the kitchen doorway, "Yes master?"

"Do you know where any of the others are?" He asked looking around.

"No master. Po is on a trip with his father, you sent Monkey and Crane to escort a local dignitary and you also sent Viper and Mantis to a ceremony two villages over." She answered him.

"Hmm what about Vish?" He asked stroking his beard.

"In the training hall, master." She told him, "Is something wrong, master?"

"Yes, a prized artifact is being transported through the Valley of Peace on its way to a village in the north. Right now, all that's guarding it is a few royal guards, but I fear that bandits may try to steal it." He thought for a minute before nodding, "I'm sending you and Vish as extra security to ensure the sapphire remains safe."

"But, master, I'm sure I could handle it on my own." She protested.

"I'm sure you could, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Besides this will be an excellent opportunity for, Vish, to do some field work." He told her before walking away to go inform the serpent of the arrangements.

Tigress sighed before looking back at her scroll and tofu. After that conversation, neither was very inviting now.

A few hours later Vish and her had joined the royal guard as they made their way through the Valley. Now they were in going up a large hill as they made their way into a lesser traveled part of the bamboo forest.

The two of them were in the rear of the column that was composed of four antelope guards with spears at the front followed by a large chest that was carried by four rhinos with spears and flanked by two rhinos with axes and two antelopes with crossbows. Looking to her side Tigress saw Vish looking at something in the distance. The sight of it made her breath catch in her throat and her eyes widen in shock. Below them in the distance was a white structure in the shape of a cylinder with a gray overhanging roof, around it were a few trees with a large one poking just over the top of the structure. It was the Bao Gu Orphanage, her previous home, her one-time prison and where her life had truly begun.

"Tigress!" She heard Vish call snapping her out of her state. Looking up she saw that he was now ahead of her and that she had apparently stopped once she had seen the orphanage. Shaking her head, she ran to catch up with him and was soon keeping pace once more. "So, what is that structure?"

She willed herself not to look at her former home, "It's nothing just a storage place." She lied hoping his limited knowledge of her world would make him buy it. No such luck however.

"It's obviously not nothing otherwise you wouldn't have been staring at it for a whole minute." He replied obviously not convinced.

"I was not staring at it and like I told you it's just a storage place." She told him walking quicker now.

He rolled his eyes but decided to let it go. He could tell that she had been very agitated with him lately and he understood why. First, she had been proven wrong about him instrument, then she went through all that work to pass his test about ambushes and she had still failed. Viper had told him that Tigress saw him as some sort of a rival just as he did her so this was not a shock to him. What surprised him was that she was being so protective when it came to that structure. The way she was acting was just like their argument before the Lin Kuei captured them. But why should he care? He was going to be back in his world once he found a way back, then he could just forget about this whole thing. For now, though he had to put up with Miss Attitude.

An hour later they stopped at a clearing deep within the bamboo forest. The guards had decided to have lunch before they continued. Standing on top of a boulder Tigress kept a lookout while she ate an apple, in the trees to her right was Vish who was doing the same except he had eaten earlier. Glancing over at him Tigress pondered on her reaction earlier. Sure, she was tough as nails and was entitled to that sort of reaction when it concerned her past, but she wouldn't have acted that way around the others. Then again, the others knew about her past and knew not to pry, plus they were her friends and Vish was merely her rival. But he had saved her and the others plus the town from the Lin Kuei and Po had done the same though it was from Tai Lung. She had treated Po the same before accepting him as a friend after he defeated the snow leopard, so why wasn't it the same with Vish? Was it because of their first meeting or was it because she didn't know anything about him and didn't want to share her past with him. Then she remembered what Viper had said a week ago, 'you two are very like each other'. She could see that his personality was like hers, but she didn't see how else they were alike. She'd have to ask her about that when she got back.

Then she saw Vish lean forward like he was looking at something before returning to normal. Raising her eyebrow, she walked over to him, "See something?"

"Not sure," He replied without looking.

"Well what did it look like?" She pressed.

"Something quick. Could just be the wind." He told her with a chuckle making her frown before walking back to her rock. Vish just rolled his eyes, "And, Viper, says I'm uptight."

In the distance a figure clad in white watched as Tigress walked away yet not seeing her companion. Looking to the side the figure saw its companion give a signal. With that they slowly made their way back to their camp. Once they made their way back they approached a female snow leopard who was waiting for them. "Report."

The two figures stood at attention before delivering their report, "The artifact is being guarded by a few rhinos and antelope of the royal guard with crossbows and spears."

The female cackled, "Ppperfect, this will be easier than I thought."

"There is one thing Commander." One of them said.

"Hmm?" The commander asked.

"A member of the Furious Five, Master Tigress, is guarding it as well." The other told her.

The commander growled, "That complicates things then, but I'm certain I can take her." She glanced at the two in front of her plus the others around the camp, "You all just make sure you follow your orders."

"Yes, Commander!" They chanted snapping to attention.

Back with the Vish and Tigress the group had finally finished lunch and were now making their way out of the forest. After their brief conversation Vish had been on the lookout for more figures and was now in the trees to the left of the group while Tigress stayed behind the group keeping her eyes to the right. Once she had seen Vish go into the trees she knew something was up though she wondered what he had seen. Strangely though she found that she wanted to be attacked by who or whatever Vish had seen. This trip had been very boring compared to most of her escort missions, she decided it was due to the absence of someone who would talk to her. While the amount of talking Po and the others did could get on her nerves its absence got on her nerves even more. Maybe she should try to talk to Vish on the way back? She shook her head, no I'm Master Tigress! I don't need to talk to that serpent! Besides what would we even talk about? No stop it! Dispelling the thoughts from her mind she turned back to the forest before hearing a tree snap.

She felt someone hit her in the head and send her flying. Before she hit the ground, she landed on her feet and looked back at where she had been. Standing there was female snow leopard dressed in white ninja clothing. At first, she thought she was part of one of the many snow leopard groups she had run into before, but the white clothing was unique. Guess it doesn't matter she told herself before jumping towards her. The leopard dodged before throwing a punch at her which she blocked before throwing a punch herself. The leopard smirked as she dodged under it and gave her an uppercut sending her back. Tigress checked her chin but found no blood still she growled at the smirking leopard. The hit she had got in seemed to give the leopard confidence because now she ran towards her fist clenched. Tigress saw what was coming before it happened and dodged to the side of the punch before swinging her fist at the surprised leopards head. The leopard crumpled to the ground and didn't get back up.

Catching her breath, she looked up and saw six other leopards in similar outfits fighting and winning against the royal guard. She tried to spot Vish in the melee but found he wasn't even there. Did he abandon them or was he fighting some in the woods on the other side? Whatever the reason was she couldn't think about it now. With a growl, she leapt back into the action quickly taking down a leopard who was fighting a rhino. The rhino nodded his thanks before running to help his comrades. Tigress looked around for another person to fight before she saw a flash of movement to her right, snapping her gaze to it she saw another leopard near the box that held the artifact. In all the confusion, the guards had abandoned it to defend themselves leaving it vulnerable. Getting on all fours she launched herself at the figure and kicked them away from the box.

Sent skidding across the ground the figure growled at her attacked before smirking, "Well if it isn't the ferocious Master Tigress."

"You seem to be more of a talker then your friends, so answer me this. Who are you?" Tigress asked getting into her stance.

The leopard chuckled, "We are the White Orchids and I am Commander Chen Lan."

"Commander?" She must be their leader Tigress mused though now that she got a good look at her she could see the outfit she was wearing while like her comrades had silver dragons lining it.

"Yes, and it is my utmost pppleasure to inform you that we will be relieving you of that artifact." Chen Lan told her flicking her tail. Tigress smirked at her lisp.

"Sorry, but we refuse." She told her getting into her stance

"Oh, too bad dearie this is mandatory." Chen Lan said lunging at her.

Blocking the punch that came Tigress attempted to land one of her own, but it was dodged. She tried to kick her in the chest but Chen Lan grabbed her leg before throwing her. She looked up in time to see the Commander give her a flying kick sending her into the bamboo trees.

Chen Lan walked over to the trees that Tigress had crashed into looking for her foe. Her eyes widened in shock as Tigress tackled her to the ground before she kicked her off. The two got back into their fighting stances before Tigress went to punch her again only for her to jump back and dodge it. Seeing an opening she tried to give the tiger a kick only for it to be blocked. This went on for a while with the both either blocking each other's moves or trading blows. She saw that Tigress was tiring and figured that the tiger would try to finish this quickly. She was proven correct when Tigress rushed towards her and tried to punch her in the face. If it connected it would probably knock her out, lucky she didn't plan on it hitting its mark. With a smile, she back flipped simultaneously dodging the punch and kicking her foe in the face.

Tigress hit the ground hard before lifting her head to see Chen Lan walking towards her. She tried to get up but she was too exhausted and fell back down. Looking around she saw all the royal guard was knocked out or had fled and once more Vish was nowhere in sight. Where was that dang snake!

Chen Lan chuckled, "You fought well, Master Tigress, ppperhaps if you weren't worn out from fighting one of my subordinates you would have even stood a chance. A pppity we will never find out." She said before walking towards the box containing the artifact.

"No." Tigress groaned weakly.

Just as Chen Lan began to open the box a voice was heard throughout the clearing, "Hey lady! You dropped this!" Shocked by the voice she spun around in time for one of her underlings to slam into her chest. Looking where the snow leopard had been thrown from Tigress saw Vish exit the broken trees. Where the heck had he been!?

After a few seconds, Chen Lan emerged from her underling and rose glaring at Vish, "Oh, look at this girls a little snake trying to play hero."

Vish wore a confused expression at her remark, "Little? How am I little? I'm like three feet longer than you." He asked making her confused.

"Well what I mean, I mean meant was, well you know?" She growled, "Never mind just leave us snake."

"Sorry I'm not letting you take that artifact." He told her.

Chen Lan narrowed her eyes before gesturing to one of her minions. Nodding the minion jumped at Vish claws ready. She raised an eyebrow as Vish sat there looking bored and swaying from side to side. Just as her minion reached him he exploded upwards and slammed her minion into the ground with his tail.

"Who's next?" Vish asked flashing his fangs making a few of them step back.

Chen Lan growled as she weighed her options. She could try to fight this serpent but even if she won it could take too much time allowing more of the royal guard to show up. Luckily, she had a second option.

"Count yourself lucky worm for I'm letting you and your friend go." She said reaching for a small pocket on her waist.

"Oh? And how do you plan to get away and take the artifact?" Vish asked intrigued.

"With this!" She said revealing cylinder objects in her palm, "White Orchids disappear!" With that she threw them down and summoning a cloud of smoke that shrouded her and her comrades from view. When it faded all the leopards including Chen Lan were gone and so was the box holding the artifact.

Vish gave a hiss in irritation before slithering over to Tigress who was slowly pushing herself up. "What took you so long?" She growled as he helped her up.

"I had to take down four of them in the trees over there." He told her simply as she stood up.

She decided that was a good enough reason. "We have to get the artifact back." She told him grabbing her aching chin.

"And how do you propose we track them? You're in no condition to move let alone fight and the only idea we have on where they went is the fact they went deeper into the forest." He asked her.

She had to admit that everything he said was correct but they still had to try. "I don't know, but we have to try."

He sighed seeing that she wouldn't be swayed, "Fine, once the guards wake up we'll head for where I first spotted them. Unless you have a better idea?"

She shook her head and he began to move away. As he turned she saw red on the back of his head, "Vish you're bleeding!"

"What?" He asked before using his tail to check where it was. When he got to his head he felt what she was talking about and to her surprise he chuckled, "Oh, that's not my blood it's there's. One of them got ahold of me so I broke her nose."

She smirked, "I take it you don't follow the code of not hitting girls?"

That got him to laugh, "If I followed that I'd be dead a hundred times over. Besides that, sounds stupid, almost every female sex of every species in my world that I know of is deadlier than the male."

"Sounds like an interesting world." She jested.

"It is." He told her with a smile before going to check on the guards. As she watched him go her smile stayed.

A half hour later they had woken up all the guards though one had a black eye after he tried to kiss Vish in his sleep. Reinforcements had also arrived in the form of gorilla and more rhino guards. They had taken off to find the White Orchid's while Vish and Tigress walked back to where he had seen them. By the time, they got there Tigress was more or less at fighting strength though her chin still hurt every now and then. Once they reached their former camp they checked the surrounding area for signs of the snow leopards but only found an abandoned campsite. Vish turned to Tigress, "These leopards are skilled."

"I have to agree with you. They remind me of the Wu sisters that Po told Mantis and me about." She said as she saw something on the ground. Kneeling down she saw it was and emblem of a white orchid.

Vish raised an eyebrow, "Wu Sisters?"

"Yes, they were a trio of snow leopards who terrorized China many years ago." She explained.

"Interesting." He said scratching his neck. "I think we should keep going seeing as there's nothing here." She nodded and they took off.

They traveled for a while till they were back at the hill that overlooked the Bao Gu Orphanage. They had looked far and wide but had found no trace of the White Orchids and now it was getting dark. Vish believed that they should stop while Tigress had other ideas.

"You want us to just let them go? We need to keep searching for them!" She protested.

"Tigress, it is getting dark and even your night vision can't see that far. What if we find them and it's an ambush? You do remember what happened last time don't you?" He told her getting fed up with her unwillingness to see reason.

"Of course, I do, but we can't just give up!" She replied.

"Look I know you don't want to fail your master I really do, but you have to face facts. One we don't have any idea where they are, two it's almost dark and even with their white clothing it will be near impossible to spot them from far away, three it's the two of us against like twelve of them and those aren't good odds. Do you think Shifu would want more the artifact or you back safe?" He told her.

Tigress bit back a reply at those last words. What would her master want? Well as her master he would probably want the artifact back, but as her adopted father he would rather want her back more than he would want the artifact. "You're right." She admitted bitterly.

Vish nodded, "Let's head back then." As he turned to go back something caught his eye making him stop.

"Ok then." She agreed walking down the hill. She had gotten ten feet before she noticed he wasn't beside her. Looking back up the hill she saw him looking at something in the distance, "Vish?"

"Well, Tigress, looks like you're gonna get that rematch after all." He said not taking his gaze away from what it was locked on.

"Huh?" She made her way back up the hill and looked at where his gaze was. In the distance was the Boa Gu Orphanage. She didn't understand at first, but then she saw it the sun's rays reflected off something and it was moving. She cracked her knuckles and smirked, "Let's go say hello."

 **Well what do you guys think? Please let me know in a review. Also I can see that the ending might be a bit confusing given that they are doing everything Vish warned Tigress about. The reason for this is that they know where they are now so they don't have to worry about an ambush and they know they can take the numbers. The entire reason I had Vish mention the numbers was for him to persuade Tigress. Next chapter will be up when I get it done which will be a while since my job leaves me very tired at night. Also I hope you all have a good father's day.**


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